Washington
Related: About this forumWashington Rules: Restaurants Can Now Sell To-Go Cocktails During Stay-at-Home Order
About time? A month after ruling that restaurants and bars could sell sealed liquor bottles with food, Washingtons liquor and cannabis board (LCB) has now made it legal to sell sealed mixed drinks for takeout and delivery during the duration of the states stay-at-home order. Now, all restaurants that have a spirits, beer, and wine license can sell cocktails, as long as they are served with a full meal (as defined here) and in certain types of sealed containers (no cheap styrofoam cups).
Back in March, the LCB relaxed some of its booze rules to allow restaurants with a proper license to sell closed factory-sealed bottles of liquor for takeout or delivery, in addition to wine and beer. Lifting such a restriction was intended to help area restaurants and bars forced to close for dine-in services during the coronavirus pandemic. Indeed, many Seattle spots jumped on the opportunity, packaging cocktail kits among their takeout offerings that included instructions on how to mix a drink at home.
But restaurateurs and bartenders across the city still called for legalizing to-go cocktails, considering that other cities around the country have done so during the crisis. Chris Cvetkovich of the globally-influenced restaurant Nue told Eater Seattle that just selling bottles that people can get in grocery stores removes any competitive advantage. And renowned cocktail bar Canon simply tweeted, Please follow the lead of NY, CA, and DC and help us!
With Washingtons stay-at-home order set to expire on June 1, its possible that this new rule may only be in effect for a few more weeks, and theres an argument to be made that the law should really be permanent across the board. But better late than never.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/foodnews/washington-rules-restaurants-can-now-sell-to-go-cocktails-during-stay-at-home-order/ar-BB13I01P?ocid=hplocalnews
lettucebe
(2,336 posts)Goes to show, you can never be absolutely sure about anything any more.
So now they are supposed to go and stock up on sealed booze bottles in the hopes they'll sell them? Can't really see this happening but (see above)
iemitsu
(3,888 posts)in a drive through setting when it is illegal to drive with unsealed alcohol in one's car.
Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(107,956 posts)The article says as much