As of precisely noon today, residents in much of Hampton Roads can get a bottle of tequila shipped directly to their doorsteps. Same goes for Kentucky bourbon, and English gin.
The Alcoholic Beverage Control authority is starting a new pilot program for liquor delivery on Friday, and Hampton Roads is first in line. And for now, the liquor delivery is available only at a single store in Virginia: The Bennett’s Creek location in Suffolk, store #377.
The bottles will be shipped via UPS next-day delivery.
Addresses within 25 miles of that store will be able to get liquor shipped to their homes. A strict 25-mile radius would include not just Suffolk, but much of Hampton, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Norfolk, Newport News, and some western portions of Virginia Beach.
Orders must be placed online at store 377, at abc.virginia.gov.
Liquor shipping is not designed as a temporary measure during the coronavirus pandemic, says ABC spokeswoman Taylor Thornberg. If the pilot program works out, delivery will be a permanent option.
“This had always been in the works,” Thornberg said. “This was planned before the pandemic, but the pandemic accelerated this process a bit.”
In March, the ABC allowed Virginia distilleries to ship and deliver their liquor throughout the state of Virginia. But this step would mark a significant expansion of home sipping options, encompassing all bottles stocked at the ABC store that ships the liquor.
The ABC has established other changes and precautions during this month. These include plexiglass at all locations, and curbside service at 96% of stores as of May 29. In accordance with the state mandate, masks are now required inside stores as of Friday
Whether the liquor shipping program expands to other ABC stores throughout the state will depend on how well it works in Suffolk.
“This is a test. We’re seeing how this works,” said Thornberg. “We hope to expand this to additional stores, and we have a plan for that roll-out.”
Quietly, says Thornberg, the ABC had already rolled out the shipping service on Thursday at the Suffolk store, just to put a few test orders through. The Virginia Mercury first reported on the ABC’s plans.
Friday is the first official day that Hampton Roads residents can order liquor online from the store.
To ensure next-day delivery, says Thornberg, shoppers will need to place their orders at 3 p.m. the previous day. Weekend orders may also cause delays of a day or two.
Note that the shipping prices from the ABC seem to reward batch purposes. A single bottle of gin delivered to Norfolk would rack up about $11 in shipping costs; five bottles incurred a shipping charge only slightly higher, at $16.
Just don’t expect to stock up on rare whiskey through the mail. A number of select whiskeys have been running low at ABC stores all over the state. And as of Friday, those bottles are now limited to one bottle per store, per customer. And those bottles are also not available for online purchase.
Matthew Korfhage, 757-446-2318, matthew.korfhage@pilotonline.com
