Alcohol To-Go and COVID-19
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a significant amount of change in alcohol policy surrounding the curbside pick-up and home delivery of alcohol. Though a number of states previously permitted the sale of beer and wine to be picked up or delivered by on-premise retailers, a large expansion of off-premise sales permissions by on-premise retailers occurred in March of 2020 onward, some of which were later made permanent by state legislatures.
The National Alcohol Beverage Control Association (NABCA) continues to work hard to provide its members and partners timely updates on state-level policy changes made through governor-issued executive orders or state laws that impact the regulation of the alcohol as it pertains to curbside pick-up and home delivery. This webpage will be monitored and updated regularly as new information is available. Please email policy@nabca.org if you have updates or questions.
Tracking Policy Changes
NABCA has created an interactive dashboards to help track these policy changes for on-premise operators. You can see additional information for each state, such as the dates when certain policies became effective or details on what kinds of drinks may be sold by hovering over a state. Policies are displayed by beverage type and either curbside pick-up or home delivery permissions.
NABCA has worked diligently to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information provided on this website. However, the information is provided “as is” without warranty of any kind and is intended for informational purposes only. This information should not be considered legal advice—and no relationship nor reliance interest should be assumed by its use. For state-specific guidance, NABCA recommends contacting the relevant state authorities or retaining private counsel
Additional information is provided below to better contextualize the policy changes displayed on the dashboards.
Variable Definitions - Click here for explanations of variables used in this dataset
(Firefox recommended for viewing dashboards)
Explanation and Exceptions to Delivery/Pickup
Categorizations: Within the dashboard tables, the date reflected in the alcohol curbside pickup/delivery columns reflects the FIRST executive order or agency rule that authorized on-premise establishments to conduct curbside pickup/delivery for off-premise consumption. In many cases, this original order/rule referred only to beer and wine but was later amended to include spirits-based beverages. If spirits-based beverages were authorized in a separate, subsequent order/rule, the later date is NOT reflected in the dashboards. Also, it is possible that an order/rule allows alcohol to be sold for pickup/delivery, but localities have prohibited this change through local ordinances. Alcohol delivery was permitted in some states prior to the pandemic, though regulations stipulated which beverage categories could be sold, whether establishments needed an additional license, and whether they could utilize a third-party delivery service (e.g. UberEats, Grubhub). Some of these regulations may have been relaxed or waived temporarily due to the pandemic. For example, in some states, alcohol curbside/delivery privileges have been expanded to different types of license holders or to include additional beverage categories like distilled spirits. In other states, such as Nevada and North Dakota, curbside pickup/delivery of alcohol was not explicitly prohibited by state law before the pandemic, but rather, localities either authorized or prohibited curbside pickup/delivery operations within their borders. During the pandemic, some localities temporarily changed regulations to allow curbside pickup/delivery of alcohol in their respective jurisdictions. Lastly, a few states permitted alcohol delivery prior to the pandemic, but required payment be made on-site/online/over the phone BEFORE a delivery could occur (i.e. money could not exchange hands at the time of alcohol delivery). This requirement has been waived in some jurisdictions during the pandemic either in the original order/rule regarding alcohol availability or successively.