Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Hochul Backs Permanent Legalization Of To-Go Cocktails As Part Of Recovery Plan
By
Gwynne Hogan
Published Jan 5, 2022
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Sydney Pereira / Gothamist
By
Gwynne Hogan
Published Jan 5, 2022
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
New York Governor Kathy Hochul wants to permanently legalize the sale of cocktails to-go as part of a small business recovery plan outlined in her first state of the state address Wednesday afternoon.
“Thousands of bars and restaurants, the souls of our neighborhoods, have had to close,” Hochul said. “We're also going to do something bars and restaurants have been asking for; to once again allow the sale of to-go drinks — a critical revenue stream during the lean times last year.”
The measure will require a change in law from the state legislature that will likely be hammered out during the budget process this spring, though Hochul holds significant sway over that process. The proposal was a piece of the governor's nearly $10 billion relief plan for small businesses, who’ve struggled through two years of a devastating pandemic. Other components include a tax credit for small businesses for COVID-19-related expenses and seed funding grants.
Read More: What It Would Take To Make To-Go Cocktails A Permanent Reality In NYC
The alcohol to-go policy was first enacted in March of 2020 by former Governor Andrew Cuomo by way of an executive order when bars and restaurants were shuttered at the height of New York’s first pandemic wave. The provision expired this past June, to the dismay of restaurateurs and New Yorkers who’d grown accustomed to cocktails-to-go. An effort to legalize alcohol to-go through the Legislature failed to pass at the time.
Andrew Rigie, the executive director of New York City Hospitality Alliance, welcomed Hochul’s support of the to-go drinks policy, saying it was vitally important for the livelihood of bars and restaurants, and generally supported by the public.
“The drinks to go policy provides critically important revenue streams to struggling restaurants and bars and is extraordinarily popular with the public, unsurprisingly,” he said. “We look forward to toasting her administration and the state legislature once this important policy is reinstated.”
Sother Teague, the beverage director at Overthrow Hospitality, which owns a constellation of bars and restaurants in the East Village, said he was eager for the restoration of take-out drinks. At his cocktail bar Amor y Amargo, cocktails to-go and bottle sales made up nearly 10 percent of his weekly revenue this past year, until the rules were suddenly changed in June.
“We’re still just kind of treading water,” he said. “It’s exciting and I’m very hopeful that it comes back quickly.”
Tagged
food
economic crisis
bars
to-go-cocktails
restaurants
Hochul
Gwynne Hogan
Gwynne Hogan is a former Gothamist reporter.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Central Park birders, others remember 63-year-old woman killed in park
People who said they knew her described her as an artist and a familiar presence in the Ramble.
By
Charles Lane
Published Sep 28, 2026 at 7:04 p.m. ET
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
News
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
By
Arya Sundaram
A Brooklyn jail cell filled with smoke. The emergency button failed, a lawyer said.
By
Samantha Max
Crews launch tunnel machines to dig first new Hudson River rail tunnels since 1910
By
Michael Sol Warren
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .