Late last week, when I ordered breakfast at the new bakery in Charleston, the famous chef Vivian Howard, in downtown Charleston, a cookie and a pie were not the only things in my food bag. In their eagerness to show you all that Handy & Hot has to offer, the café staff prepared another half dozen menu items for me to try. (It is against our policy to accept free food, so I asked the restaurant to charge for any unforeseen extras.)
Between the eyebrows was a cocktail of mescal presented in a sealed plastic bag with a paper umbrella affixed to it. A Handy & Hot employee explained that I could use the garnish as a toothpick to stick the watermelon slices submerged in the drink. She suggested using the same approach for a piece of peach slices bagged with amaro.
Both attractive drinks, as well as a mix of pineapple and rum listed along with beer and wine in the “Strong alcoholic drinks” section of the menu, were delicious. They will certainly make money.
For that reason, it is unfortunate that they are also apparently illegal. What’s more disturbing is that as long as well-capitalized restaurants continue to break the law instead of fighting it, a desperately needed source of revenue is likely to remain out of reach for small independent restaurants.
Faced with discovering ways to keep devastated restaurants afloat and recognizing the importance of alcohol to restaurant financial results, New York State took “about three hours to figure out” how to give the go-ahead for cocktails to go, says Jay Hibbard, vice president of state government relations for the United States Spirits Council.
In June, more than 30 states had followed suit, with several taking steps to make the change to the beverage law permanent. To no one’s surprise, South Carolina is not among them.
“South Carolina is a challenging state when it comes to alcohol,” admits Hibbard.
According to South Carolina state law, “the sale of alcoholic beverages for external consumption is restricted to retail liquor stores with the appropriate license”. There are no exceptions to the rule, confirms SC Revenue Department spokeswoman Bonnie Swingle.
(According to a Handy & Hot spokeswoman, restaurant managers believe that “alcoholic beverages are covered by the food portion of the beverage license”, but in response to the Post and Courier inquiry, they removed the spirits from their menu while researching matters the most.)
However, Handy & Hot is not the only restaurant in the hotel that offers open-air cocktails for travel. The Restoration Hotel issued a press release at the end of July entitled “The Watch Rooftop Offers New Cocktails To-Go Menu”, promoting one-liter drinks, including a $ 65 greyhound flavored greyhound.
Asked about the cocktail program, a spokeswoman explained that the batch cocktails were sealed before sale. Although sealing is a prerequisite for beer and wine on the go, it does not make legal spirits legal for restaurants and bars to pack for take-away customers. This greyhound is obviously out of the way.
To be clear, if a restaurant can get $ 55 for a Moscow Mule jumbo, I’m all for it. I am concerned, however, that only the most privileged restaurants are positioned to benefit from the customers’ headquarters.
There is little consolidated demographic data on the issuance and application of alcoholic beverage licenses, so it is impossible to know with certainty that restaurants that do not appear in sophisticated magazines pose a greater risk for breaking the law.
But it is reasonable to imagine that a black or immigrant restaurant owner without a lawyer on duty would think twice about announcing contraband. After all, while it is not an accurate analogy, studies have shown that blacks are nine times more likely than whites to be arrested for low-alcohol crimes, such as having an open container.
Obviously, the hospitality industry would not be much better off if the state repressed the cute cocktails that circulate in downtown Charleston, despite many recent reminders that the industry’s general disregard for the law has facilitated theft of wages and the assault on the workplace. . But it would have a greater chance of overall success if takeaway cocktails were a legitimate option for all restaurant owners, regardless of fame or funding.
Even in South Carolina, says Hibbard, this is possible with the right lobbying efforts. He points out what his organization has accomplished in Maine, a state of control.
“We talked to the governor’s office and said, ‘It’s not really hard work and we can help you determine the guidelines,'” said Hibbard, who worked closely with the state restaurant association to lift restrictions on mixed drinks. – for travel in time for the Memorial Day weekend. “It’s just a matter of finding a way forward”.
Hibbard later heard of a restaurant owner who won thousands of dollars in take-out cocktails over the holiday. He credited the new law for keeping him in business.
Reach Hanna Raskin at 843-937-5560 and follow her on Twitter @hannaraskin.