With the bars closed by the coronavirus, alcohol to go becomes a new Triangle trend
It’s safe to say now is a good time for a drink.
This week, as North Carolina shut down its bars and dining rooms, many restaurants moved to takeout and delivery. That only accounts for a fraction of the sales they’re used to, but it keeps businesses open and a few workers in jobs.
Bars aren’t allowed that same flexibility, no matter how high the demand for to-go daiquiris might be. But times of crisis have a way of leading to innovations. With their doors closed and their barstools empty, a number of bars, breweries and bottle shops are selling their booze to go.
The coronavirus outbreak hit right as new cocktail bar Killjoy was set to open in downtown Raleigh. With their opening date now up in the air, Killjoy and sister bar The Haymaker are working together on a cocktail delivery service. They provide mixed juices, bitters, syrups, even ice, and you provide the alcohol. The service is called Cross-Town Cocktails, with mixes sold in plastic containers and delivered inside the Beltline for $5 or picked up at the Haymaker.
“We’re trying to keep our staff paid,” said Zachary Thomas, who co-owns Killjoy with Josh Gagne. “We’re just surviving.”
This week has been unlike anything to ever befall the food and drink industry, that its very identity of bringing people together could suddenly be part of the dangerous spread of the coronavirus. But Thomas and others are betting people are still thirsty.
“This has never happened in our industry before,” Thomas said. “How do you prepare for this?”
Hard to replicate a bar
The Cary watering hole Sidebar has started bottling mixes, starting with a margarita (tequila not included) and plans to add more options this weekend. Currently the bottled margs are sold at Oakwood Pizza Box in Raleigh, but owner Matthew Bettinger plans to add pickup options at the downtown Cary bar this weekend.
But Bettinger knows a bottled drink doesn’t make a bar.
“What pays our bills are the drinks, but people come out for the ambiance and the environment of a bar,” Bettinger said. “I’m not sure how to replicate that. It’s hard to throw a party in a world of social distancing.”
The Triangle’s breweries have become one of the area’s great gathering spaces. In navigating this new world where gathering is impossible, some are doing what they can to get beer to the people.
Bond Brothers in Cary set up a beer drive-thru this week and added beer delivery, turning its bartenders into temporary drivers.
“The curbside thing has been pretty successful,” said Whit Baker, brewmaster at Bond Brothers. “And beer delivery is an emerging market. It’s pretty much the only way to get beer to your house without going to the grocery store.”
When its taproom was shut down along with all the other bars in the state, Bond Brothers decided to start offering all of its beers in 32 ounce crowlers, the wide aluminum cans for beer. In simpler times, Bond Brothers would only put certain beers from its taplist in crowlers, but now Baker said they will sell beer any way they can. The move has been successful enough for breweries that there’s now a crowler shortage, Baker said, forcing Bond Brothers to soon switch to 16 ounce tallboy cans.
“We’ll keep selling as much beer as we can,” Baker said.
Curbside beer pickup
Beer delivery isn’t necessarily something new. The bottle shop Red Line Beer & Wine has been offering the service for a couple of years now. Other bottle shops are now adding the service, including the Durham and Chapel Hill locations of Beer Study.
Other breweries are selling their supply of packaged beer.
Durty Bull Brewing in Durham has set up curbside pickup and to-go beer, plus delivery in Durham County. Ryan Bennett, retail manager for the brewery, said he’s getting the sense that this is a service customers were already craving.
“It seems like a service people were wishing was a little more prevalent even before this situation,” Bennett said. “Everyone is being forced to innovate right now. It seems to be the way of the future.”
On his delivery runs, Bennett said he’s sold to people in Durham County who were under quarantine. They were able to pay in advance and he could drop the beer on their doorstep. Others are paying by the Square mobile app. One thing he’s noticed, people are buying in bulk.
“Folks are buying in slightly larger quantities,” Bennett said. “Everyone knows they need to help right now.”
This story was originally published March 19, 2020 at 5:41 PM.
