Alcohol To-Go Law in Maine Extended For 3 More Years

The pandemic changed a lot of things.  Some changes we might look back on and wonder why we didn’t do it that way all along. And some temporary pandemic adjustments might be here to stay

By now you probably know that ordering alcoholic drinks to-go with your dinner from a bar /restaurant was something that was okayed during the pandemic.

Now that our every waking moment is not spent thinking about the pandemic and its effect on us, some things are returning to the way they used to be.

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However, ordering a cocktail with your dinner and getting it to go will remain. For at least the next three years. The Governor signed the bill earlier this week. Mark March 30, 2025 on your calendar unless it gets extended again closer to that date.

Maine is not alone in alcohol to-go. Over a third of states have similar laws, some permanent.

In a recent survey, only about half of Mainers supported the idea of legalizing alcohol drinks to-go.  

Most support comes from younger people. Most 55+ people were mostly against relaxing alcohol laws.

Let’s look around the country at some liquor laws.

• To-go alcohol has always been for sale in New Orleans, well-known for its frozen daiquiri stands.
• In Butte, Montana you are free to drink in the streets, as long as you don’t do it between 2 a.m. and 8 a.m.
• Clark County, Nevada home to the Las Vegas Strip you can publicly drink as long as you are not within 1,000 feet of the liquor store if the beverage was purchased in a closed container.

Huh?

Back to Maine, and our wonderful restaurants – hopefully, this extension of the law helps their business, because we don’t know what we would do without the great restaurants we have.

See ya at dinner.