Bored of drinking White Claws or the same bottle of Trader Joe's wine every week? I totally understand. As much as I'd love to be shaking up elaborate martinis every night, not all of us are blessed with the ability to make incredible cocktails. Besides, it's difficult to have all the ingredients and fancy liquors required for a unique drink. Luckily, there's a ton of restaurants and bars in the Bay Area offering a creative and easy solution: to-go alcohol. Check out this list of where to get the best to-go alcohol in the Bay.
Elixir
Elixir is the second oldest continually operating saloon in San Francisco, but despite its age and history, this bar does not fall behind when it comes to constructing creative solutions to pandemic drinking. Elixir offers to-go cocktail kits in two sizes, large (making 16 to 25 drinks) and mini (making 5 to 8 drinks). The kits include all the necessary liqueur, juice, fruits, and sodas to make tasty cocktails in the comfort of your own home. The mini cocktail kits have more of the classics, from daiquiris and margaritas to palomas. However, if you’re looking to stock up on drinks for a few weeks, Elixir's large cocktail kits have an extensive and unique selection. Drinks like the Spicy Smoky Cactus Pear Margarita, or the Hot Islands Night Cocktail are sure to captivate you and all your housemates. Elixir is also offering online cocktail classes or whiskey tastings, and all of the ingredients and bar tools necessary can be bought and picked up from the bar directly.
Closed Mondays
The Ice Cream Bar
Alcoholic milkshakes? Spiked floats? Say no more. This next place is selling boozy dessert drinks made with its homemade ice creams. The Ice Cream Bar is a retro soda fountain in San Francisco crafting homemade ice cream with locally sourced dairy. If you’re looking to drink while satisfying your sweet tooth, order one of The Ice Cream Bar's alcoholic ice cream drinks to go. Their flavors are mature and complex, like cherry ice cream with red ale and vintage sweet white wine. You can even choose your own ice cream flavor to blend with a chocolatey porter beer. The Ice Cream Bar also offers a spiked float kit featuring Mumm Napa Brut Prestige sparkling wine, and a pint of seasonal fruit sorbet. Along with spiked milkshakes and floats, The Ice Cream Bar sells baked goods and pints of ice cream to go. Their ice cream flavors range from the classic and nostalgic like butterscotch and banana puddin’, to more eccentric flavors such as roasted pineapple. The Ice Cream Bar even offers vegan sorbets and coconut milk ice cream.
Closed Monday and Tuesday
Arena SF
If you’ve ever thought that the perfect addition to a cold cup of boba would be a shot of rum, you’re definitely not alone. Arena SF, a nightclub in San Francisco, launched Ratchetivi-Tea, a line of alcoholic boba drinks that can be ordered to-go, to combat closing during the pandemic. All of its drinks are specially mixed with different types of teas and liquors, all poured over sweet honey boba. If fruity boba is your thing, try the Peach Diddy, a refreshing blend of peach black tea and Peach Ciroc, or The Stimulus, strawberry green tea and vodka. If you prefer sweeter teas, try The Pink Drink, a creamy blend of strawberry milk tea and Malibu Coconut Rum. Each drink is 16 oz, contains around 2 shots, and can be ordered for $14.25 (or $19.50 if you want to add an extra shot). Unfortunately, Arena SF has temporarily closed Ratchetivi-Tea, but will hopefully be reopening for to-go orders soon! In the meantime, Kung Fu Tea has a list of recommendations for how to use its bubble tea as a mixer, including which flavors of tea pair best with different types of liquor.
Closed Sunday - Wednesday
Smugglers Cove
A major curse of this pandemic has been the closing of tiki bars and the deliciously complicated tropical drinks they serve. Though the atmosphere will be difficult to recreate, at least the drinks can still be enjoyed at home. Smugglers Cove, a classic SF tiki bar, is offering its tiki drinks to-go. Each canned cocktail contains two full drinks, and there's an enormous selection of unique drinks like Zombies, Painkillers and Fog Cutters. The refreshing fruity cocktails are all made with rum, juices, and fruits like coconut, lime and pineapple. Try the Mastodon, a rum and bourbon drink with pineapple, passionfruit, fresh lime and maraschino liqueur. Along with its sweet and intricate drinks, Smuggler’s Cove also sells a huge selection of bottled rum, and even has a non-alcoholic option for non-drinkers.
Open for pickup Thursday - Sunday
Almanac Beer Co
If local breweries are your thing, check out Almanac Beer Company for some creative beers to go. This brewery, located in Alameda, focuses on farm-to-barrel brewing with sustainably sourced ingredients. Almanac doesn't just offer your regular brews, it carries a huge selection of really unique beers, like it's own coffee stout for which it partners with a different coffee roaster for each batch. The Sournova line consists of tart and juicy fruit ales in flavors like blackberry, peach, and apricot. Almanac even makes a line of zodiac beers with unique brewing techniques for each one. The Libra Charm is a Sour India Pale with cherries, strawberries, nectarines, peaches, apricots, apriums, and dry-hopped with sultana. Whether you’re a beer lover looking for new options, or unfamiliar and trying to expand your knowledge, Almanac Beer Company definitely has something for everyone. Check out the to-go alcohol offerings here.
Open for to-go orders 7 days a week
Oakland Yard
Yeah sure, you can get wine at the store, but the selection definitely isn’t as comprehensive or organized as the Oakland Yard Wine Shop. The online shop has a ton of selections based on region, price, or qualities, and they're all available for pickup from their store. Whether you like deep Italian reds, or crisp Portuguese whites, you’ll find it here. There's even a section for women owned wine, so you can support female winemakers while drinking! Not sure what wine to buy? Oakland Yard has you covered with its curation service. Just simply fill out an order request form with the number of bottles you want, a price range, and your style preferences, and they’ll personally select a perfect collection for you.
Closed Mondays
Old Devil Moon
Basic cocktails are not an option at Old Devil Moon. This San Francisco bar offers eccentric bottled cocktails to-go five days a week. Old Devil Moon specializes in making innovative cocktails with names and flavors you won’t find anywhere else. The aromatic and floral Bewitched cocktail mixes together gin, pear liqueur, honey and lavender bitters. The Midnight Rituals cocktail is a mystifying and sweet blend of rum, orange, coffee and bitters. The unique bottled cocktails make three drinks each, and can be ordered for $24. Old Devil Moon also offers curated pairings of canned beer and chocolate, and have a ton of local beer for sale as well.
Closed Mondays and Tuesdays
If you're looking for better drinks and a lot less effort, to-go alcohol is a godsend. In the Bay Area, we're blessed with some of the most innovative and delicious options, so you can sip a fresh and fruity cocktail while supporting your favorite bars when they need it most. No car to make a pickup? There's always incredible wine delivery services to make drinking at home a better experience too!