Hopefully, whatever you’re seeing in your community is better than what Charleston, South Carolina is up to these days. Despite soaring Omicron case counts and the 13th highest number of coronavirus-related deaths in the country, city officials here in the Holy City (or as I like to call it, “Covid’s Airbnb”) recently decided two popular neighborhood joints—babas on cannon, and Cutty’s Elliotborough Establishment—had to dismantle their outdoor parklets and yield that space back to motorists clamoring for that sweet, sweet free parking.
Take it from me, a Charleston resident who drinks: both these parklets were delightful and unobtrusive, and improved the city blocks on which they’d been built. And now they’re gone. Given Charleston’s relatively mild winter (it’s like 50°F and sunny as I type this, lol), the wealth of evidence that Covid-19 is less transmissible outside, and the aforementioned plague surge here in the Palmetto State, this might seem counterintuitive to you. Ditto!
There’s a bunch of inside-baseball bullshit about why the city’s leaders put the kibosh on this pair of parklets—state/local road control battles, car-centric decision making, boomer-brained fear of progress, etc.—but I don’t really care to litigate any of that at the moment, and I assume you don’t either. The bottom line is Charleston’s bar parklets are gone, and both the bars and the drinkers they serve (very much including your fearless Fingers editor) are worse off for it.
Lucky for you, South Carolina’s backwards politics do not extend beyond its borders. Other state and local jurisdictions are doing things to actually help their struggling bars, rather than jam them up as the pandemic enters its third year. A lot of that assistance comes in the form of loosened alcohol sales rules: according to a December 2021 report from the Washington Post, 16 states have permanently legalized to-go cocktails since all this *gestures vaguely into the abyss* began, with another nine either passing laws or changing regulations to allow for more direct-to-consumer booze sales.
Still, drinking off-premise—i.e., in your house—is simply no substitute for drinking amongst your community at a local bar. These reforms, progressive and welcome though they may be, do little to safeguard neighborhood bars as vital third places in the urban landscape. A great wail went up early in the pandemic about “saving” bars, but 20 months later, it’s receded to little more than a murmur. So I’d like to know:
How is your city/town/etc. helping out its on-premise drinking establishments these days?
Could policymakers be doing more? Are NIMBYs clawing back parking spots that had been briefly, gloriously converted into founts of alcohol-abetted civic life? Tell me what it looks like on the ground wherever you’re at. I’d love to hear from you.—Dave.
California legalized take out cocktails at the start of the year, but the restrictions are so much as to render it useless, as well as rolling back pandemic lifelines.
From that (very helpful) blog post: "in the way of bureaucracies and asinine, convoluted liquor laws across this great nation, the new SB 389 that goes into effect January 1 will be useful only to restaurants that both have a full liquor license and do a lot of in-person takeout."
Yeah, noted. This sounds like a real half-measure. Means-testing, baby: we love it!
Downtown Portland is depressing. City government is a joke, many beloved bars have closed, but we still have the parklets outside some establishments. Watering holes are surviving with a combination of socially-distanced indoor (+vac checking for seating at the bar), outdoor, takeout and delivery.
Which Portland? Maine or Oregon? Great to hear they're doing vaccine checks for indoor, although I know that puts a huge strain on the workers to enforce. How has enforcement been?
Oregon! It sucks that the workers are stuck with enforcement -- most people in my observation are following the mask mandate, but everyone is exhausted, and I only go places that I feel safe. Anyway, here's a pic of Caesar the No Drama Llama outside my favorite neighborhood vac-checking and mask-mandating brewpub: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Y3pcM7M6W8UYQ3u88
Is this... a local celebrity? Does everyone in Portland know Caesar the No Drama Llama? Should I? I mean, obviously I should. But you know what I mean.
I feel really badly for the workers here in South Carolina—no one ever really gave a shit down here, and now they really don't have any protection whatsoever because even the municipal mask mandates are long gone. It's a tough scene.
Since 2014 , NY breweries have been able to run their own tap rooms. That's where beer fans go to gather. Indie bottle beer x counter spots are keeping the indie flame alive, you can get pint there as well, several stand out for dedication to wide range of craft beer.
Bar scene has embraced cocktails.
Nyc is always changing, fluid.
The NYC Hospitality Alliance is a strong voice for all nyc bars, restaurants, nightlife, hotels. So that's a big pkus in nyc. Plus the overall shop.local vibe
Noted on all that. I lived there for about eight years, and that definitely tracks with my recollection. But I'm wondering specifically about the Covid-related regulatory climate vis-a-vis NYC bars lately—in your view, has the city been helping or hurting the sector lately (or neutral)? Ditto the state. Would love to hear your thoughts!
And Chris oleary at Brew York New York is on it too.. Anyway, given that beer bars across the country are threatened in this new economy, I’m going to start featuring a New York City beer bar here every couple weeks, and I’d like to hear from you: who’s got a great beer list, survived the pandemic, and might fly a little under the radar? I don’t want to blow up your favorite neighborhood spot, but I’d like to get to know some of the city’s more hidden gems with great tap lists.
City responded positively with outdoor dining in 2020. Now in 2022, vaccine mandate for indoor dining means bars can stay open like normal.indoors , plus outdoor dining/ drinking continues.
In terms of bars, nyc has been supportive, with to.go.cocktsils, especially via NYC Hospitality Alliance. Reach out to Megan at Someday Bar NYC in Brooklyn who is new board member of The NYC Hospitality Alliance. She co.founded @savenycbars early during covid.
Cool, will do! Thanks Jimmy. Wondering whether Gov. Hochu's backing will be enough to get to-go cocktails across the finish line and into the legal code (or whatever it's called) this go around.
California legalized take out cocktails at the start of the year, but the restrictions are so much as to render it useless, as well as rolling back pandemic lifelines.
https://sfist.com/2021/12/28/to-go-cocktails-become-fully-legal/
From that (very helpful) blog post: "in the way of bureaucracies and asinine, convoluted liquor laws across this great nation, the new SB 389 that goes into effect January 1 will be useful only to restaurants that both have a full liquor license and do a lot of in-person takeout."
Yeah, noted. This sounds like a real half-measure. Means-testing, baby: we love it!
Downtown Portland is depressing. City government is a joke, many beloved bars have closed, but we still have the parklets outside some establishments. Watering holes are surviving with a combination of socially-distanced indoor (+vac checking for seating at the bar), outdoor, takeout and delivery.
Which Portland? Maine or Oregon? Great to hear they're doing vaccine checks for indoor, although I know that puts a huge strain on the workers to enforce. How has enforcement been?
Oregon! It sucks that the workers are stuck with enforcement -- most people in my observation are following the mask mandate, but everyone is exhausted, and I only go places that I feel safe. Anyway, here's a pic of Caesar the No Drama Llama outside my favorite neighborhood vac-checking and mask-mandating brewpub: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Y3pcM7M6W8UYQ3u88
Is this... a local celebrity? Does everyone in Portland know Caesar the No Drama Llama? Should I? I mean, obviously I should. But you know what I mean.
I feel really badly for the workers here in South Carolina—no one ever really gave a shit down here, and now they really don't have any protection whatsoever because even the municipal mask mandates are long gone. It's a tough scene.
Here here! In nyc c 2009- 2019 www.goodbeerseal.com was fairly active in promoting indie beer bars.
Right on. But what's the scene like up there these days?
Since 2014 , NY breweries have been able to run their own tap rooms. That's where beer fans go to gather. Indie bottle beer x counter spots are keeping the indie flame alive, you can get pint there as well, several stand out for dedication to wide range of craft beer.
Bar scene has embraced cocktails.
Nyc is always changing, fluid.
The NYC Hospitality Alliance is a strong voice for all nyc bars, restaurants, nightlife, hotels. So that's a big pkus in nyc. Plus the overall shop.local vibe
Noted on all that. I lived there for about eight years, and that definitely tracks with my recollection. But I'm wondering specifically about the Covid-related regulatory climate vis-a-vis NYC bars lately—in your view, has the city been helping or hurting the sector lately (or neutral)? Ditto the state. Would love to hear your thoughts!
And Chris oleary at Brew York New York is on it too.. Anyway, given that beer bars across the country are threatened in this new economy, I’m going to start featuring a New York City beer bar here every couple weeks, and I’d like to hear from you: who’s got a great beer list, survived the pandemic, and might fly a little under the radar? I don’t want to blow up your favorite neighborhood spot, but I’d like to get to know some of the city’s more hidden gems with great tap lists.
Chris's newsletter is great! I actually just saw him, he was down here in Charleston. Go figure.
City responded positively with outdoor dining in 2020. Now in 2022, vaccine mandate for indoor dining means bars can stay open like normal.indoors , plus outdoor dining/ drinking continues.
In terms of bars, nyc has been supportive, with to.go.cocktsils, especially via NYC Hospitality Alliance. Reach out to Megan at Someday Bar NYC in Brooklyn who is new board member of The NYC Hospitality Alliance. She co.founded @savenycbars early during covid.
Cool, will do! Thanks Jimmy. Wondering whether Gov. Hochu's backing will be enough to get to-go cocktails across the finish line and into the legal code (or whatever it's called) this go around.
To go cocktails are only helping restaurants and not competing with indie wine liquor bottle shops.
The retail shops in NY state are all indies too so you don't want to mess them up either