Several states make moves to permanently allow cocktails for delivery

Several states make moves to permanently¹ allow cocktails² for delivery

Transcript³

The pandemic spurred many states to temporarily relax rules for selling alcohol to give restaurants and bars short-term financial relief. In some places, those changes are becoming permanent.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

Over the course of the pandemic, many states helped restaurants and bars by temporarily relaxing the rules for selling alcohol. In some places, those changes are becoming permanent. From member station WKAR in Lansing, Mich., Sarah Lehr reports.

SARAH LEHR, BYLINE⁴: The Cellar Peanut Pub in Iowa is known for its bloody⁵ marys. But when the state shut down indoor dining to curb⁶ the spread of COVID-19, the pub's owner, Marty Duffy, worried his tomato juice cocktails wouldn't be the only thing in the red. The bar got a reprieve⁷ when an emergency order allowed businesses with liquor licenses⁸ to temporarily sell cocktails for carryout or delivery. So Duffy started packing up those drinks using a hand-operated machine that makes aluminum⁹ cans.

MARTY DUFFY: I would can for 14 hours a day just to, basically, save my business.

LEHR: At the height of the pandemic, 39 states allowed cocktails to go, at least in the short term. Iowa became the first state to make the change permanent in 2020. Now Mike Whatley with the National Restaurant Association says at least 17 other states have followed suit with their own laws to permanently allow carryout cocktails. Whatley calls it one of the biggest shifts in American liquor laws since the end of prohibition¹⁰.

MIKE WHATLEY: Honestly, without the pandemic, it would have taken 5 to 10 years or more to have this many states pass laws that change alcohol policy so significantly.

LEHR: Jarrett Dieterle is a researcher with the R Street Institute, a think tank supporting free markets. Even though drinks to go are popular with customers, he says the highly regulated liquor industry can be tough to reform.

JARRETT DIETERLE: It creates this patchwork¹¹ and a lot of kind of vested interest. And it's made change just really, really difficult in the industry.

LEHR: In some states, wholesalers and liquor stores are lobbying against more permissive laws. They worry they'll lose business as restaurants get more leeway. Massachusetts is extending its policies, letting restaurants and bars sell alcohol for carryout and delivery until early 2023. Robert Mellion lobbies for liquor stores through a group called the Massachusetts Package Stores Association. He argues the relaxed rules make it harder to police underage drinking.

ROBERT MELLION: During, you know, the first year and a half of the pandemic, it was understood we needed to make restaurants whole. Restaurants are whole now. Now it's about additional profitability. And it's additional profitability at the expense of somebody else, the mom-and-pop liquor store across this country.

LEHR: In Michigan, a pandemic relief measure is letting bars and restaurants offer mixed drinks to go until the end of 2025. And lawmakers here recently voted to permanently enact¹² another COVID-era policy. Now local governments can designate outdoor social districts where people can schmooze and booze on public streets so long as the drinks are purchased from nearby businesses. Lansing City Councilman Peter Spadafore says the open container zones let people socialize more safely at a distance while the coronavirus was raging. But as he sipped¹³ a vodka with lemon and lime in Michigan's capital city, Spadafore argued the benefits of social districts will outlast¹⁴ the pandemic.

PETER SPADAFORE: I think the pandemic really caused us to reevaluate our beliefs and sort of mores¹⁵ around drinking. You can see people out and about with a drink in their hand or just window shopping and, really, kind of a different set of folks coming to this destination.

LEHR: If you like being able to carry out a margarita or to stroll downtown with a drink in your hand, you may have the pandemic to thank. For NPR News, I'm Sarah Lehr in Lansing.

(SOUNDBITE OF ALLAH-LAS' "HOUSTON")

1 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

2 cocktails   

n.鸡尾酒( cocktail的名词复数 )；餐前开胃菜；混合物

参考例句：

• Come about 4 o'clock. We'll have cocktails and grill steaks. 请四点钟左右来，我们喝鸡尾酒，吃烤牛排。 来自辞典例句
• Cocktails were a nasty American habit. 喝鸡尾酒是讨厌的美国习惯。 来自辞典例句

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

6 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

7 reprieve   

n.暂缓执行（死刑）；v.缓期执行；给…带来缓解

参考例句：

• He was saved from the gallows by a lastminute reprieve.最后一刻的缓刑令把他从绞架上解救了下来。
• The railway line, due for closure, has been granted a six-month reprieve.本应停运的铁路线获准多运行6 个月。

8 licenses   

n.执照( license的名词复数 )v.批准，许可，颁发执照( license的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Drivers have ten days' grace to renew their licenses. 驾驶员更换执照有10天的宽限期。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Jewish firms couldn't get import or export licenses or raw materials. 犹太人的企业得不到进出口许可证或原料。 来自辞典例句

9 aluminum   

n.(aluminium)铝

参考例句：

• The aluminum sheets cannot be too much thicker than 0.04 inches.铝板厚度不能超过0.04英寸。
• During the launch phase,it would ride in a protective aluminum shell.在发射阶段，它盛在一只保护的铝壳里。

10 prohibition   

n.禁止；禁令，禁律

参考例句：

• The prohibition against drunken driving will save many lives.禁止酒后开车将会减少许多死亡事故。
• They voted in favour of the prohibition of smoking in public areas.他们投票赞成禁止在公共场所吸烟。

11 patchwork   

n.混杂物；拼缝物

参考例句：

• That proposal is nothing else other than a patchwork.那个建议只是一个大杂烩而已。
• She patched new cloth to the old coat,so It'seemed mere patchwork. 她把新布初到那件旧上衣上，所以那件衣服看上去就象拼凑起来的东西。

12 enact   

vt.制定(法律)；上演，扮演

参考例句：

• The U.S. Congress has exclusive authority to enact federal legislation.美国国会是唯一有权颁布联邦法律的。
• For example,a country can enact laws and economic policies to attract foreign investment fairly quickly.例如一个国家可以很快颁布吸引外资的法令和经济政策。

13 sipped   

v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He sipped his coffee pleasurably. 他怡然地品味着咖啡。
• I sipped the hot chocolate she had made. 我小口喝着她调制的巧克力热饮。 来自辞典例句

14 outlast   

v.较…耐久

参考例句：

• The great use of life is to spend it doing something that will outlast it.人生的充分利用就是为争取比人生更长久的东西而度过一生。
• These naturally dried flowers will outlast a bouquet of fresh blooms.这些自然风干的花会比一束鲜花更加持久。

15 mores   

n.风俗，习惯，民德，道德观念

参考例句：

• The mores of that village are hard to believe.那村子的习俗让人难以置信。
• We advocate a harmonious society where corruption is swept away,and social mores are cleared.我们提倡弊绝风清，建设一个和谐社会。