California now allows cocktail and spirit home delivery from your favorite restaurant or distillery

Seven Stills has opened its new flagship distillery-brewery in Mission Bay, San Francisco. Seven Stills has opened its new flagship distillery-brewery in Mission Bay, San Francisco. Photo: Courtesy Seven Stills Photo: Courtesy Seven Stills Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close California now allows cocktail and spirit home delivery from your favorite restaurant or distillery 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

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Good news, California: You can now get a premium, mixologist-approved cocktail delivered straight to your door. At least for the time being.

Late this week, California's Alcoholic Beverage Control, the governing body for alcohol licenses in the state, announced it would be temporarily easing up on some of its laws related to public alcohol sales, delivery and take-out orders. The goal is to mitigate the economic hit bars and restaurants are having to endure while they are not open to customers.

"The Department has carefully considered the public’s health, safety, and welfare in providing this relief, and the Department has concluded that none of these measures, exercised on a temporary basis, will jeopardize the public’s health, safety, or welfare," the ABC wrote in a statement.

The modifications are manifold, and are a bit complicated. Some apply just to the breweries and distilleries, and some apply to restaurants and bars (if they sell food) and consumers.

All together, there are eight changes:

1. "Returns of alcoholic beverages": This change creates the opportunity for retailers to return product to manufacturers like breweries and distilleries. (Manufacturers, however, don't have to accept returns — that's up to them to decide.)

2. "Retail-to-retail transactions": Off-sale retailers, like liquor stores, can now buy excess product from on-sale retailers, like bars and restaurants, in addition to their usual source, wholesalers. This change is meant to "avoid wasteful inventory spoliation" and to provide an extra income source for on-sale retailers that can't seat patrons right now.

3. "Extension of credit": A current law dictates that wholesalers and manufacturers cannot extend credit to retailers past 30 days. "The Department will not be enforcing these provisions," the ABC states now, adding that wholesalers and retailers will be allowed to extend credit on their own terms for the time being.

4. "On-sale retailers exercising off-sale privileges": Businesses with licenses allowing on-sale privileges (such as restaurants and bars) may temporarily sell alcohol in "manufacturer pre-packaged containers" for off-sale consumption.

5. "Sales of alcoholic beverages to go": Here's the part that's of interest to the general (21+) public. "Bona fide eating places," the legal term ascribed to restaurants, may sell beer, wine and pre-mixed cocktails for consumption off-site if they are sold alongside a meal. These drinks don't need to be packaged by a manufacturer as in No. 4 above, but they must be sold with a "secure lid or cap" like in a sealed bottle or can.

6. "Off-sale transactions through pass-out windows": Licensees are allowed to temporarily sell alcohol to people in cars or in a drive-through scenario.

7. "Hours of operations for retail sales": The window of time in which these businesses may make these sales to customers has, for some, extended. The ABC is currently allowing these retailers to sell alcohol between the hours of 6 a.m. and 2 a.m., though retailers will, of course, operate within their own chosen hours.

8. "Deliveries to customers": Currently, if a person wants to purchase, say, a bottle of whiskey from a distillery, the distillery must process the order at the licensed premises. They are also not currently allowed to deliver to consumers away from that licensed premises. Now, craft distillers can not only deliver, they can also accept payment at the point of delivery (up to a max of 2.25 liters per customer per day), including at a "curbside" delivery.

Now, despite this regulatory relief, things won't change immediately.

It's up to these businesses to decide if and how to implement these changes. Some, like Santa Cruz's Venus Spirits and San Francisco's Seven Stills, have already been preparing for the regulatory ease. Others are still working on the logistics. Stay tuned for what's next.

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Alyssa Pereira is an SFGate digital editor. Email: alyssa.pereira@sfgate.com | Twitter: @alyspereira

