Roman, the general manager at Volstead Act, caps a bottle for a to-go Negroni.
If there was a silver lining for bars and restaurants during the past year it was this: While the pandemic caused massive restrictions to be imposed on the hospitality industry, the kind that bankrupted a lot of businesses, it also caused a few more-minor restrictions to be loosened.
Take the Volstead Act, for example, a local bar named after the law that banned alcohol. After COVID-19 hit, that name became more literal than planned.
While the Volstead Act could sell food to go, their signature cocktails had been ruled effectively illegal. Existing liquor regulations in Washington state were a little old fashioned: You could buy sealed liquor bottles, but not purchase cocktails for takeout.