To state the absurdly obvious, 2020 has been a rough year so far. In many parts of the world, all of our favorite cocktail establishments have gone through long periods of being closed. Some of the most famous watering holes have closed for good. But I’m a sucker for silver linings. One of the coolest things to come out of this whole situation in the cocktail world is watching many amazing bartenders and cocktail crafters getting into the cocktail-to-go game.

In Hong Kong, we had it pretty good for a while. Our covid-19 case numbers were low. We would go days or weeks without any new cases being reported. Border controls and quarantine requirements seemed to be working to keep everything under control. And that meant our nightlife scene didn’t have to shutdown for very long. Through May and June we could go out to our favorite bars and party as if the world wasn’t on fire for a minute. Very few places had that luxury, and of course, it was not destined to last.

Like most of the rest of the world, our case numbers have spiked over the last couple of weeks. And in response, much of the Hong Kong food & beverage scene has shut back down, or been restricted to very limited hours and capacities. It’s necessary, of course, but that doesn’t make it less of a bummer. To help keep things going, some of the best bars in Hong Kong have put together amazing cocktail-to-go programs. Some of them will even deliver to your door.

Of course Hong Kong is not the only city to be getting into the cocktail-to-go game. Cities around the world have been updating their rules and regulations on to-go cocktails to help support the food and beverage industry. World famous cocktail bars are keeping their incredible concoctions available. If anything, these cocktails are now available to a wider audience than before. My hope is that even when we return to something resembling normal life, many of these cocktail-to-go options will remain available. My hope is that the regulation changes that have supported this will remain in place. One should be able to enjoy world class cocktails at home as well as at the bar.

But for now, this is an excellent opportunity to support your favorite pubs. Get in touch and see if they’ve got some to-go cocktails available. For a brief moment, you can recreate part of your favorite cocktail experiences at home. It’s a nice reminder of what we had and what we can hopefully return to soon.