Virginia to-go cocktails permanent after passed by House, Senate

The Virginia state legislature has voted in favor of making cocktail to-go orders permanent.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - The Virginia state legislature has voted in favor of making cocktail to-go orders permanent.

FOX 5’s Stephanie Ramirez said both the Virginia House and Senate voted overwhelmingly for the new legislation.

The COVID-era measure was originally designed to help restaurants and other businesses that were facing hurdles trying to stay afloat when indoor dining had shut down and was later limited by social distancing.

Ramirez said that several years ago, Virginia lawmakers passed a measure allowing mixed alcoholic beverages to also be ordered with those to-go orders.

The measure was scheduled to expire but will now go on indefinitely. Coming out of the pandemic, Ramirez said restaurants still consider cocktail to-go orders to be an important tool as owners battle inflation, supply chain disruptions, and staffing shortages.