Alcoholic beverages and cocktails ordered with a to-go meal will not fade as a relic of the pandemic past, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday.
California’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control will continue to allow bars and restaurants to sell to-go cocktails to patrons beyond the easing of pandemic restrictions on June 15.
The to-go cocktail rule, crafted last March as the coronavirus pandemic set-in, served as a lifeline for largely shuttered restaurants to prop-up revenues despite a lack of customer flow.
The push to allow bars and restaurants serving to-go cocktails initially began with a call from a top Newsom rival, former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer.
Faulconer proposed the action as part of a widespread California restaurant rescue plan in the spring.
The cementing of to-cocktails for California bars and restaurants does have one limit: bars that do not serve food will be unable to sell to-go cocktails.
