As COVID-19 cases spike, California has enacted a new regional stay home order that went into effect Sunday night and affects 85% of the state’s population.
Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a new system that would trigger regional stay home orders when hospitals’ projected intensive care unit capacity dips below 15%. That threshold was met Sunday in the Southern California and San Joaquin Valley regions.
Additionally, leaders in the state’s Bay Area region opted to implement the stay home order even though ICU capacity at area hospitals has not fallen below the 15% threshold.
Under the stay home order, the 33 million residents of those two regions are prohibited from holding private gatherings of any size and businesses must restrict capacity, cease on-site service or close through at least December 28.
All offices of the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control have closed for three weeks, effective today.
Affected Counties: The Southern California region includes Imperial, Inyo, Los Angeles, Mono, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. The San Joaquin Valley region includes Calaveras, Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madeira, Mariposa, Merced, San Benito, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Tulare and Tuolumne counties.
The Bay Area counties that have opted to enact the order include Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco and Santa Clara, as well as the city of Berkeley. The Bay Area stay home order will remain in effect until January 4, 2021.
Context: California is home to more breweries than any other state, with more than 1,000 currently in operation. This isn’t the first time that pandemic-related shutdowns have forced the state’s breweries to pivot their operations.
In July, Newsom ordered all restaurants, breweries, wineries and pubs to shut down indoor service and required that meals be served with all alcoholic beverages. In September, unsafe air conditions caused by widespread forest fires forced many breweries to cease outdoor on-site service.
What It Means For Breweries: Breweries, wineries, distilleries, bars and restaurants must close for on-site service for at least three weeks, but may remain open for beer-to-go sales via takeout, curbside pickup and home delivery, due to their designation as essential services, secured by the California Craft Brewers Association (CCBA) in the spring.
“Just ensuring that breweries were considered an essential sector was actually a big victory for us early on, but extended premises and just being able to stay open with the meal requirement in the early stages was a victory,” outgoing CCBA executive director Tom McCormick said today during the opening session of the trade organization’s annual conference. “The main message that I want to leave with you today is that we are not done, and we are not content at all where things are for you, our members.”
McCormick, who will retire at the end of the month, detailed how the CCBA’s lobbying efforts since the COVID-19 pandemic began have differed from past years.
“We just had to make an immediate pivot on that dark day of March 17 to begin lobbying and advocating on your behalf to a totally different audience — health departments, county and state, the governor’s office,” he said. “It just really changed the way that we advocate for you, but we have had some successes.”
Over the weekend, McCormick and CCBA lobbyist Chris Walker worked to ensure the state’s new regional stay home order allowed for breweries in affected regions to remain open for production, sales to wholesalers, sales to retailers for self-distributing breweries, sales to consumers via curbside pickup, home delivery and direct-to-consumer shipments. Still, McCormick said the CCBA is “not content where things stand and where breweries are slotted.”
“We have not exhausted all of our avenues, so we are looking at a legal action,” he said, but declined to provide more details.
Under the California Department of Public Health’s guidance for retail beverage service venues, “bars, wineries, breweries and pubs should be closed, except for venues that are currently authorized to provide off-sale beer and wine to be consumed off-premises are allowed.” Businesses in this category that operate full kitchens must follow guidance for restaurants, which are required to close for on-site dining.
With drastically diminished on-site sales, some of the state’s largest names in craft beer have looked to other revenue streams.
Santa Rosa- and Windsor-based Russian River Brewing Company this weekend announced its new Cellar Society, a membership-driven, direct-to-consumer (DTC) bottle club. Open only to residents of California, an annual membership costs $450 plus tax and shipping. Members will receive 24 limited release, exclusive bottles, glassware, access to virtual tastings and discounts at the company’s breweries and online.
Meanwhile, San Diego-headquartered Modern Times Beer has added DTC shipping to residents of California and Washington, D.C. The company’s seven California breweries have closed for on-premise service but remain open for to-go sales.
HEADS-UP, PARTY PEOPLE: Today will be the last day of on-site service for our California spots (we’ll be transitioning back to to-go only). As always, we are super grateful for everyone’s understanding and support during these crazy times. Stay safe and be excellent. pic.twitter.com/izEPf6PoAY
— Modern Times Beer (@ModernTimesBeer) December 6, 2020
Others have opted not to wait out the pandemic’s restrictions, such as Anheuser-Busch InBev-owned 10 Barrel Brewing, which permanently shuttered its San Diego taproom on Friday, December 4.
“The closure is a direct result of the global health crisis and the significant impacts COVID-19 has had on the pub’s business operations and revenue,” the brewery wrote on social media.