The silver lining in these very dark days? Cocktails to go! Though these packaged libations may not be proven to boost your immunity, drinks, right now, feel like what the doctor ordered.
In an effort to bolster the flagging revenue of local restaurants and bars forced to close their dining room during the COVID-19 crisis, California's department of Alcoholic Beverage Control recently loosened some laws around the sale of adult beverages, allowing restaurants to sell pre-mixed cocktails for takeout to anyone over the age of 21. The drinks must be sealed (no drinking in the streets, this isn't the French Quarter), and accompany food.
Here's where to get cocktails—plus wine, beer, and cider—to go in San Francisco and Oakland.
Cocktails To-Go From San Francisco Restaurants
SoMa bar Alchemist is delivering drinks throughout San Francisco Wednesday through Sunday. Wine, beer, drinks for two, and large format cocktails in 375ml bottles are on offer. Get ready for Old Fashioneds, Moscow Mules, rose espresso martinis, and more. Food items (one is required per order) include bacon cheddar tots, a Beyond burger, fried chicken sliders, and more. // Call 415-515-0230 or email alchemistbarsf@gmail.com to order; alchemistsf.com; also available via DoorDash.
The new normal for Mourad Lahlou's restaurant group includes $15 carry-out Negronis, Vespers, and Rye Double Old Fashioneds. There are also several wines available by the glass and bottle. Check out the takeout menu online, and look for delivery via Caviar and DoorDash. // 5800 Geary Blvd. (Outer Richmond); call 415-682-4196, azizasf.com
This iconic SF restaurant is giving 100 percent of the profits on all cocktails sold Friday through Sunday to cafe employees who are being furloughed due to COVID-19 distancing mandates. Order up a bloody mary, espressotini, or one of a few $13 cocktail recipes from beloved local bars, including Wildhawk's Breakfast Negroni, a 7x7 Big Drink favorite. If you're having a social distancing happy hour, $45 margarita pitchers are also available, as well as beer (Pliny the Elder) and several wines. // 3199 Fillmore St. (Cow Hollow); check out the menu at balboacafesf.com, then call 415–921–3944 to place a pick-up order; delivery is available through Postmates.
Oh yes, you can still get those iconic Irish coffees to go at SF's landmark cafe. Order up pub grub including omelettes, a reuben, and fish and chips, and grab your coffee and get your coffee and mini bottle of Tullamore Dew Irish Whiskey to go. // Call 415-474-5044 to order takeout; 2765 Hyde St. (Fisherman's Wharf): thebuenavista.com
One of San Francisco's oldest bars is taking up one of its latest trends. Get bottles of spirits, wine, beer, and mixers delivered to your doorstep, or make a go of it with one of Elixir's cocktail kits, each of which makes more 20 drinks. ($44-$173). // See inventory of spirits at drinks on Elixir's Facebook page, then order for delivery by emailing Elixirsfdelivery@gmail.com.
The Haight Street hot spot is cranking out six bottled cocktails ($20/two) including Thyme in a Bottle (gin, genepy, dry vermouth, cocchi) and the sultry Smokin' Barrels (bonded rye, Benedictine, vermouths, Scotch). Feeling festive-ish? Order up a bottle of Roederer Brut ($28), as well as red and white wine options and bottles of beer. // 598 Haight St. (Lower Haight); Check out the menu at maven-sf.com, then order by calling ahead at 415-829-7982 or via Facebook DM; delivery is also available via Caviar.
At Nopalito's Broderick Street location, plastic to-go tubs have been filled with the tequila cocktails. Margaritas, Sweet Heats, sangria, and bloody marias can be picked up from the to-go window between Fell and Oak street, as can michelada kits and full bottles of Del Maguey Vida mezcal and Pueblo Viejo Blanco tequila. One 16-ounce container serves two for $16. // 306 Broderick St. (Lower Haight); to order for pick-up, email catering@nopalitosf.com or call 415-300-0029; a limited cocktail selection, plus six-packs of Tecate and a few wine options, is also available for delivery via Caviar.
Shortly after closing the doors to Old Devil Moon, owner Chris Cohen pounced on a new opportunity. Cohen bought a crowler machine and hundreds of bottles, then set to work sanitizing glass and packaging custom cocktails, including ODM's exceptional Boulevardier, a Mezcalita, and sufficiently spicy bloodies. Each 12-ounce bottle ($18) contains three cocktails; 22-ounce bottles ($28) are also available, as are growler fills for beer (BYO growler), and a limited selection of bottled spirits, wines, and cider. Get a muffaletta sandwich or Cajun hot link to go with. // Open 2pm to 8pm daily; 3472 Mission St. (Glen Park); check out the menu at olddevilmoonsf.com.
Douse your chilly studio apartment in island vibes thanks to bottles of rosé, Red Stripes, punch bowls, Palmades, and piña colada kits from Palm House. A single bloody mary is only $5, while cocktail kits for four range from $30 to $65. // 2032 Union St. (Cow Hollow); delivery and pick-up are available through Postmates and UberEats.
The latest reincarnation of North Beach's most iconic restaurant has reopened just in time to serve takeout and delivery only. In addition to chef Nancy Oakes' family-style dinners and Italian pantry staples—think marinated olives, pastas, vodka-tomato sauce—the restaurant is delivering bottles of wine and a cocktail kit ($75/serves 12) to make grapefruit-hibiscus tequila tonics at home. // Order online at Tock.
Happy hour at home doesn't have to be sad with creative bar bites and innovative libations from True Laurel, like the Mai o Mai, a 7x7 Big Drink cocktail made with rum, curaçao, lime, pistachio orgeat, and a coffee rum float. Bottled drinks are $14 each, or $79 for a six-pack. $30 bottles of wine—including cava, pet nat, and syrah—as well as Temescal Pils tallboys are also available. // 753 Alabama St. (MIssion); call ahead to order at 415-341-0020, view the to-go menu at truelaurelsf.com.
Seven Stills
In addition to full bottles of spirts, the local distillery is also offering a limited edition "Apocalypse" menu of classic and creative cocktails including the Mission Mule, Armadillo, and Devil's Acre made with 7S Pisco. Drinks range from $11 to $14 for a single serving and $30 to $45 for 750ml bottles. // 100 Hooper St. (SoMa); schedule pickup through Toast; delivery coming soon.
This Bayview neighborhood joint is offering cocktails to-go as a part of their End of the World As We Know It Menu. Team your breakfast biscuit sandwich or crab louie salad with a sazerac, Kat Five Hurricane, beer punch, and more ($8-$9; get $2 off some drinks during happy hour until 6pm). // 5114 Third St. (Bayview); call 415-500-2501 to order for pickup; wordacafe.com.
This neighborhood hot spot is classing up plastic pint-sized containers by filling them with ready-made cocktails. A rotating to-go menu includes 3-4 mixed drinks that range from the smooth and boozy Gentelman Caller to the light and easy Salty Dog (salt rim included). Priced at $20, each pint holds 2 servings and must accompany a food order; we recommend the salted caramel pot de crème. // 3583 16th St. (Castro) Order delivery through Caviar, create an online order for pick up, call ahead at 415-252-7500, or just drop by.
Cocktails To-Go From Oakland Restaurants
Know what sounds good right now? Buttermilk fried chicken, soba biscuits, and curbside cocktails! Hopscotch's pre-batch cocktails for four ($30) include a maple Old Fashioned, Corpse Reviver, and a Black Manhattan; or you can get a DIY Lo-Fi Spritz kit ($45 serves 12). // 1915 San Pablo Ave. (Oakland); call ahead for pickup at 510-788-6217, or order delivery through Caviar; view the full menu at hopscotchoakland.com.
Resurrect your tastebuds with a black walnut chai Old Fashioned, sumac Negroni, or a lavender vodka tonic to-go ($20 per two-cocktail batch), all ready to serve straight up or on the rocks. Ice, seltzer, and lime are only an ask away. The restaurant's all-day menu also includes a three-course family meal of grilled pork loin, braised cabbage, potatoes, and carrot cake. // 3762 Piedmont Ave. (Oakland); call 510-344-7214 or order for takeout online through Toast; magorestaurant.com.
Nido's eateries are joining forces to bring the fiesta to your casa with an extensive menu of six-cocktail batches ($45-$50)—including margaritas, sangria, and various tequila and mezcal drinks—six-packs of beer, and $55 family meals that feed four. // The Backyard, 104 Oak St. (Oakland) call 510-500-9757 for pickup, or order delivery through Caviar; backyardoakland.com.
Life is kinda drab these days, but at least there's a wonderful world of tiki drinks for takeaway! (Just be sure they stay sealed until you get home.) At the beloved Kon-Tiki, bottled cocktails ($18-$28, roughly two drinks per serving) include The Kon-Tiki Grog, Zombie, Saturn, and more. Don't forget the bar snacks: The menu includes hot fries with togarashi and kewpie mayo, a vegan sloppy joe, and a double burger. // Take-out only; Call 510-823-2332 to order; check Facebook for updates
Oakland's dim sum and cocktail bar is now offering a full selection of bottled cocktails, as well as wines, spirits, and zero-proof beverages, to go alongside sweets and snacks. Get ready to clink glasses of Back That Sazz Up (Champagne, Cognac, rye, bitters, absinthe) and Lemon Glass (Japanese whiskey, lemongrass, and berry consommé). Cocktails are priced at $20 for two or $80 for the big baller (serves 12).
// Open 3pm to 9pm daily; call 510-393-9333 to order for pickup; 2216 Broadway (Oakland), viridianbar.co
Beer Takeaway + Delivery at Bay Area Breweries
San Francisco
Wash down pretzel sticks, currywurst, and sausages with fresh beer in crowlers and cans from Black Hammer, which is offering takeout (noon to 8pm daily) and delivery via Caviar. Craving their beet reuben but not into beer? Grab a 32-ounce crowler of rosé or sauv blanc. // 544 Bryant St. (SoMa); call 415-766-9225 to order, blackhammerbrewing.com.
Stock up from select bottled and canned beers, wines, and ciders at lower-than-usual retail prices from the popular brewpub. Team your suds with a larder board, kale salad, and fried chicken sando. // 3141 16th St. (Mission); for takeout, call 415–865–9523, or order in-person at the window and get a 10 percent off food; delivery is available via Postmates, Uber Eats, DoorDash, and GrubHub; monkskettle.com.
Order up your usual burgers, wings, and chopped salads and get $10 six-packs of California Kolsch and Dubs Golden Ale, or fill up a 32-ounce crowler of any fresh beer on tap for just $11. Selection rotates regularly. // 1398 Haight St. (Upper Haight); order for pickup through Toast;; magnoliabrewing.com.
Pick a fresh four-pack ($13-$23) or select a spare 16-ounce crowler ($7) for home delivery. Stop by in person to increase your selection. // 69 Bluxome St. (SoMa); order online for takeout and delivery at localbrewingco.com.
East Bay (and Beyond)
Get crowlers of any of Berkeley-based Fieldwork's 20-something brews for pickup or home delivery, if you're within delivery radius of one of their seven taprooms in the East Bay, Marin, Napa, and Monterey. Delivery orders are accepted from to noon to 7pm. // Locations in Berkeley, Napa, Sacramento, San Ramon, San Mateo, Corte Madera, Monterey; pre-order at fieldworkbrewing.com.
Almanac's Alameda taproom is offering beer to-go seven days a week, plus free shipping on cases and mixed packs throughout California. // 651 West Tower Ave. (Alameda); call 415-992-3438 for the current local selection, or shop online and get your beer delivered; almanacbeer.com.
The stylish, summery designs of Temescal Brewing's cans and crowlers are sure to perk you up. Place your order online, wait an hour, then swing by the taproom with your ID for no-contact pickup of all their beers. // 2pm-7pm Weds-Sun; 4115 Telegraph Ave. (Oakland), temescalbrewing.com
The Belgian beer garden and kitchen has launched an online beer shop (and tip jar) to keep the taps open. Cans and bottles are available for pre-order and pickup, with growlers coming soon. Check the site for new arrivals. // Order through Toast or call 510-238-8900; 460 8th St. (Oakland); thetrappist.com
While you're sheltering in place, also check out our roundups of Bay Area restaurants offering food takeout and delivery and Napa and Sonoma wineries that are offering shipping and special discounts.
