Cocktails to-go, alcohol delivery to continue in Washington state through 2023

To-go cocktails, curbside beer pickup and alcohol delivery will stick around in Washington state for two more years under a bill signed by Gov. Jay Inslee.

The law, brought to the legislature by the Liquor and Cannabis Board and passed with bipartisan support, makes semi-permanent what was a temporary rule change to boost bars and restaurants during the early days of the pandemic, when they relied solely on takeout.

Under House Bill 1480, full-service restaurants — those that hold a spirits, beer and wine license — can sell cocktails in sealed containers for takeaway, including curbside pickup and delivery. They also can sell cocktail kits with 50-milliliter “minis” and wine by the glass. For delivery, a recipient 21 or older must sign for it.

Breweries, wineries and distilleries also can continue to offer curbside pickup and delivery of their retail packaged goods including growlers, something they couldn’t do before the pandemic.

These permissions extend to caterers, snack bars and nonprofit arts businesses that hold liquor licenses.

Originally brought to the House floor in late January, various iterations of the bill proposed ending the allowance a year earlier.

The allowance is not automatic, as license holders must apply for an endorsement through the liquor board. About half of them will want this privilege, according to the legislature’s fiscal report.

Starting in January 2022, the liquor board must enlist an outside entity to study the effects of to-go alcohol, such as its impact on underage drinking and alcohol-related health or traffic incidents. Depending on that data, agency communications director Brian Smith said it’s possible the legislature would pursue a more permanent statute.

Bill sponsor Rep. Drew MacEwen of Union said that for how progressive Washington is as a state, it’s conservative when it comes to governance of alcohol. Nobody wants to see society become more dangerous, he said, but he hopes the study shows that businesses and consumers will act responsibly.

Perhaps to assuage those fears, the bill excludes one element of LCB’s pandemic allowances.

As bars and restaurants closed in initial lockdown measures last spring, the agency moved quickly to assist the industry by temporarily allowing to-go retail sales of liquor bottles with a meal purchase. Countless eateries jumped at the chance, creating, for instance, margarita kits with fresh-squeezed bottles of juice sold with a full 750-milliliter bottle of tequila.

HB 1480 supersedes that rule, Smith said. Establishments can continue to sell batched cocktails to-go, as in one container that holds enough to make four drinks at home.

“When it comes to our issues, there are always going to be people on either side,” he said. While those educating against drunk driving and some law enforcement members are among those “not in favor of expanding alcohol availability, there are others that thought this bill was a good step.”

The Liquor and Cannabis Board views it as a positive step.

The bill also asks the agency to re-evaluate its rules for alcohol service in outdoor seating arrangements, which have proliferated due to pandemic restrictions, as well as its food requirements. Since last summer, taprooms and tasting rooms not normally required to serve food were forced to carry “substantial” food items to seat guests indoors. That restriction was recently lifted so that arranging to have a food truck on site, for example, would satisfy the requirement.

“These temporary allowances have really been a lifeline for many breweries needing a little flexibility during the pandemic,” said Anne McGrath. With drinking on-site down, she added, the additional revenue from beer to-go has helped restaurants, breweries and their distributors.

Where elected officials stand

HB 1480 passed with strong bipartisan support: only 12 representatives, from both parties, voted no in the House, followed by only three in the Senate. Inslee signed it last Thursday, April 15.

Two of the lawmakers who voted no, Rep. Timm Ormsby of Spokane and Sen. Jeannie Darneille of Tacoma, both Democrats, told McClatchy they are concerned about expanding access to alcohol.

Ormsby, who originally signed on to the bill as a co-sponsor, said he was initially supportive of trying to maintain a stopgap for LCB and businesses. But he later learned about the expansion of curbside delivery and other aspects that raised concerns, especially while people are isolated during the pandemic.

He is “not interested in thwarting the success of businesses heavily impacted,” he said in a phone interview, but also “not looking for ways to increase consumption, particularly by individuals in their own home” out of concern over exacerbating substance use disorder.

Darneille said she’s part of a group of lawmakers who are historically concerned about expanding access to alcohol products and the general normalization of access.

As chair of the Human Services, Reentry & Rehabilitation Committee, Darneille said she sees the effects of addiction on families and children. She also pointed to a lack of a corresponding increase in access to recovery programs.

“This needs to be recognized as a causal force in a lot of the issues that desperately and negatively affect children in our state,” Darneille said.

MacEwen came to the issue as a partner in a few restaurants and top Republican on the House Commerce and Gaming Committee. He told McClatchy he has had a front-row seat to the pandemic’s impacts.

A handful of legislators from both parties are fundamentally opposed to expanding access or flexibility related to liquor, MacEwen said — it’s not a partisan issue and he respects the position.

The City of Tacoma was one of the original proponents of the cocktail to-go movement last spring, with city councilman Robert Thoms and Mayor Victoria Woodards requesting the “common-sense allowances.”

In a statement while HB 1480 awaited Inslee’s signature, Woodards said the flexibility thus far has helped businesses “recoup some investment in products sitting on their shelves.”

Now that it’s official through 2023, she said, “It is our sincere hope we can take information over this time to learn how to make these rules permanent and support our local industries as they provide craft products customers want.”

This story was originally published April 20, 2021 at 5:00 AM.