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Some told me they stocked so much that they'd have to shell out even more money to get it all hauled away. Most bar owners I spoke to had likewise already purchased supplies (bottles, tamper-evident caps, custom labels) to continue selling to-go cocktails for months. “I happen to have just bought a few hundred bottles for our to-go cocktails.
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“We will have to reconfigure our numbers to adjust for the lack of sales, especially as to-go has been a real extra boost,” says Ivy Mix, a partner in Brooklyn’s Leyenda (an Esquire Best Bar, 2016). Want to stay up-to-date on what to drink (and what not to drink)? Join Esquire Select
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How would allowing people to purchase $150 batched cocktails to-go possibly hurt? In fact, 15 states have passed bills to make to-go drinks permanent, while 12 other states have extended their period for to-go sales. In fact, we all spent about $2.45 billion more on alcohol at stores during the pandemic than we did the year before. “The liquor store associations have been organized and lobbying for years to uphold antiquated laws that ensure their survival over others.”īut the thing is, to-go cocktails haven’t affected alcohol retail one bit. These rules have been politicized from the beginning,” says Claire Sprouse, owner of Hunky Dory (an Esquire Best Bar, 2021) in Brooklyn. “The darker side to this is that it is not just ignorance on behalf of Albany. And that’s seemingly the case here, with the likely culprit the alcohol retail lobby. If you pay attention to the world of alcohol long enough, you’ll eventually realize that all its rules and regulations are rarely made to improve people’s lives (or even community safety), but rather to make powerful, moneyed forces in the industry happy. Bars will not return to ‘normal’ without a feeling of awkwardness for months, if not years.” Bringing that home enables people to feel natural away from the bar scene. “Humans are social animals, and it’s natural to be outgoing in a bar setting. “They are taking away something that has psychologically sustained people’s lifestyle and well-being,” says Lucinda Sterling, managing partner of Seaborne and Middle Branch. “The state is drowning bars and restaurants in the cruelest fashion."
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“When I say ‘got us through,’ I mean barely covering our costs.” Don’t think Vacheresse was printing money, however.
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Drinks like the Barking Mad Bramble, The Nordic, and a variety of barrel-aged cocktails sold for $100 to $150 for a full bottle to-go (about 10 servings). Even today, to-go cocktails still make up 11 percent of his revenue. “We sold very few individual cocktails to go, but large, batched cocktails got us through the pandemic,” he explains. With customers like me no longer able to belly-up to the bar and drink $15 snifters of esoteric single malt, Vacheresse had pivoted to selling to-go cocktails by March 17, 2020. Like Vacheresse’s Travel Bar, my favorite place to sip whiskey in Brooklyn. These new pandemic to-go rules weren’t just extremely popular with drinkers across the five boroughs, they were a lifeline for many businesses over the past 15 months. Governor Andrew Cuomo's announcement ending the State of Emergency that began last March made New York one of only 13 states to end such orders and "return to normal." I had just broken the news to him on Wednesday afternoon that the New York State Liquor Authority (SLA) had abruptly-and with a tweet, no less-axed pandemic rules that had allowed bars and restaurants to offer to-go cocktails and other alcoholic beverages. “I’m fucked,” Mike Vacheresse wrote to me.