PORTLAND — Oregon lawmakers passed a bill Tuesday allowing the sale of cocktails to-go to continue after the pandemic, turning what had been a stopgap for struggling restaurants and bars into a permanent fact of life.
Senate Bill 317, which allows licensed establishments to sell “mixed drinks and single servings of wine in sealed containers for off-premises consumption,” previously passed the Oregon Senate in March. It cleared the House Tuesday by a vote of 51-7. The bill now moves to Gov. Kate Brown’s desk.
As new COVID-19 restrictions brought drinking and dining to a standstill across America in March 2020, many states rushed to overturn laws banning takeout cocktail sales, many of which had moldered on the books since Prohibition. Despite massive service industry layoffs, Oregon waited until December to pass its own version of the bill.
Sponsored by Sen. Lee Beyer, D-Springfield, and Rep. Rob Nosse. D-Portland, the new bill means Oregon will join around 15 states and the District of Columbia in making cocktails to-go permanent.
The Oregonian/OregonLive first reported on the push to allow cocktails to-go last April, after Oregon’s neighbors to the north, south and east each allowed takeout cocktails in some form. At the time, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission said that the prohibition on restaurants and bars selling spirits to-go was baked into the Oregon legal code and that change has to come at the legislative level. Some opposition to the bill came from local temperance and recovery groups. But unlike in other states, where liquor stores fearing new competition attempted to block or alter similar legislation, Oregon restaurants and bars buy their spirits at a minimal discount from the same liquor stores as the general public.
According to award-winning bartender Ricky Gomez, who has advocated for the change since last year, cocktails to-go allowed his Cuban-style Southeast Portland cocktail bar Palomar to go from $1,200 in sales a week to the same amount each day in January. That’s despite a requirement that each drink order be accompanied by food.
Gomez acknowledged that takeout drinks are not a quick fix for the ailing restaurant industry. But while noting that restaurants might not see much of a difference to their bottom lines, “for places like Palomar, where our signature product is our cocktails, it was a huge difference maker,” he said.
“And getting rid of something that probably dates back to Prohibition, even though it took a pandemic to do it, is good,” Gomez said.
