With coronavirus cases surging to nearly 400,000 cases and 4,100 deaths, the state of Alabama is enacting more measures to help slow the spread.
The Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board has approved to amend an original statewide order to temporarily authorize emergency curbside alcohol sales. The board held an emergency meeting Monday to reinstate the order, and the measure passed unanimously, extending it until January 4. On March 24, as the coronavirus began to spread nationwide, the Alabama ABC Board passed an amendment to the emergency curbside sales authorization, reported Al.com.
The original authorization expired on September 15. The decision to not extend the order at that time came as Alabama started reopening restaurants and bars. According to an email in September to Al.com, Dean Argo, Government Relations Manager of the Alabama ABC Board stated, “At this time, there are no plans to extend that order.”
The amendment would allow on-premise licensees to again sell alcoholic beverages to go. Specifically, this would apply to selling sealed bottles. No more than one 375-milliliter bottle of spirits, two 750-milliliter bottles of wine, or 144 ounces of beer can be sold per customer, according to a CBS Report.
“I think it’ll affect us pretty good. When they had it back in September, back when it started, it did pretty good,” stated restaurant owner Marco Perez. “A lot of customers like getting a margarita to go. It helped business a lot.” Perez owns Maya’s Restaurante Mexicano in Homewood.
Jason Hutchins, general manager at Tuscaloosa restaurant Brick and Spoon is happy about the order. He told WBRC, “We saw a lot more folks stop by just to get drinks. We saw a huge spike in repeat orders at the tables when people were getting ready to go when they finished their meals. They said ‘We’ll have another mimosa to go.’”
“We are extremely sensitive to the plight of our licensees during the COVID-19 pandemic, and we will continue to make every attempt to help them remain open, financially viable, and safe,” stated ABC Board Administrator Mac Gipson.
Governor Kay Ivey recently extended the Alabama Safer at Home order until January 22.
