Legalizing cocktails to-go was a key consumer legacy of the pandemic. This year, New York state lawmakers could allow for wine sales in grocery stores. And diners could soon be able to leave New York restaurants with a bottle of their favorite craft liquor.
State Senator Pat Fahy, a champion of several alcohol-sale related bills, says new legislation would allow the sale of sealed private-label liquors at restaurants and bars.
The liquor would have to be distilled in and made with New York-grown ingredients. The bill applies only to bottles. Promoting the bill at the Tipsy Moose in Albany, the Democrat says the state’s craft beverage industry is second in the nation with an annual impact of $5.4 billion.
“It’s more important now than ever that we help our restaurants, our distilleries which again help out farms. It’s a win, win, win,” Fahy said. “But we need that flexibility on what are antiquated laws.”
Current law prohibits restaurants and bars from selling sealed bottles.
Fahy says between 2020 and 2021, the number of craft beverage producers nearly doubled in the Capital Region alone.
Fahy also sponsored legislation allowing for the purchase of one to-go drink per meal in 2022 if the beverage is sold in a secure, sealed container.
Under the new proposal, participating restaurants would be required to report annual total sales volume to the State Liquor Authority, capping sales at 75,000 gallons per year per license holder.
During the pandemic, Tipsy Moose, which has three locations, began selling bottles but was “slapped on the wrist” by the State Liquor Authority. Owner Rob Tario says liquor laws are complicated.
“I made a mistake. I definitely misinterpreted the ABC laws. It was a bit complex for me. So that being said, I came to her [Fahy] with hopes to change the law and improve this situation so that we'd be able to have our brand go to somebody's house, be able to market better, be able to gain revenue for the restaurants and partner up with a local distillery,” Tario said.
Not everybody is ready to pop the cork.
The New York State Liquor Store Association’s president says the bill would hurt liquor stores. Michael Correra, Executive Director of the Metropolitan Package Store Association and a Brooklyn liquor store owner, says a change in the law could put many small businesses out of business.
“If you buy a bottle of Tito's a week and you get an opportunity to buy one at a liquor store, or you get to buy it at a restaurant, the chances are you're not going to buy two bottles,” Correra said. “You're only buy in that one bottle, just buy it someplace else. So consumption is not going to increase. It's just going to put a financial hurt on independent liquor retailers.”
Correra says he doesn’t see a compromise that would keep liquor stores while.
“We only sell two things in a liquor store, by law, wine and liquor,” Correra said. “So if you're giving somebody else the opportunity to sell those, that thing, that product, obviously that's going to dilute the need for me, my business.”
The legislative session runs through mid-June.
