These Boston-Area Restaurants Are Delivering (Booze-Free) Cocktail Kits

Dine-in restaurant service is currently banned in Massachusetts (and many other states) due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the state isn’t allowing restaurants to serve alcohol with takeout and delivery orders — at least not yet.

Elsewhere in New England, New Hampshire has already put an emergency provision in place to allow restaurants to sell alcohol with takeout and delivery orders; Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Vermont have also followed suit. Perhaps it’s only a matter of time for Massachusetts (and Maine).

Meanwhile, though, several local restaurants are offering at-home cocktail kits — everything but the booze — with their delivery and takeout. Here are several to try.

Know of any other local restaurants offering cocktail kits? Email boston@eater.com.

Alcove

50 Lovejoy Wharf, West End, Boston

Alcove isn’t offering cocktail kits, per se — more of a choose-your-own-adventure set of cocktail supplies. It’s all available via Caviar for delivery or takeout, with options such as margarita mix and bloody mary mix ($14 per quart), various juices, several bitters, mint, simple syrup, and more.

Blossom Bar

295 Washington St., Brookline Village

Blossom Bar/Official Site

The Brookline cocktail gem is offering home cocktail kits for pickup or delivery, and these kits don’t just include the basic ingredients — there’s also ice, garnish, and glassware.

Options include five-serving mixers for five of Blossom Bar’s cocktails, including Broken Spanish, Bocadillo Sour, Gloria, and more ($12 each); several styles of cocktail glasses ($15 each); garnish kits ($8); and ice cubes, crushed ice, and “baller king” cubes ($5-$6 for four- or five-drink portions, depending on the type of ice).

Note: Orders can take 24 hours to process, and delivery is available within a five-mile radius of the restaurant. (There’s a $20 delivery charge, but it is waived for orders over $100.)

Fat Baby and Loco Taqueria & Oyster Bar

All pickups at Loco: 412 W. Broadway, South Boston

The sister restaurants in South Boston are both offering takeout and delivery (DoorDash, Caviar) daily; note that all takeout orders should be picked up at Loco, even if the food is from Fat Baby.

The restaurants are also offering cocktail kits with their delivery and takeout options — $15 for the non-alcoholic ingredients necessary for four to six drinks. Loco is serving kits for the Britney (blueberries, watermelon, and mint; add tequila) and the Coco (lime and coconut; add tequila and triple sec), while Fat Baby is featuring Baby Got Back (lemon and agave; add orange vodka.) They’re available on limited days, so keep an eye on each restaurant’s Instagram account (Fat Baby, Loco) for notes on availability. There’ll be cocktail tutorials posted on there, too.

Lone Star Taco Bar

479 Cambridge St., Allston, Boston, and 635 Cambridge St., East Cambridge

Both Lone Star locations are currently operating as takeout only — customers can order online (Allston, East Cambridge) — and both are offering their margarita and bloody mary mixes for at-home drinking. “Pro-tip, the bloody mix doubles as michelada mix,” Lone Star notes.

Delivery is not available at the moment, but the Lone Star team noted on Instagram: “We are working on doing everything we can! Please just keep tabs on our social media for updates!”

The Porch Southern Fare & Juke Joint

175 Rivers Edge Dr., Medford

The Porch Southern Fare [Official Photo]

The fairly new Southern restaurant and music venue is currently offering takeout and delivery, with cocktail kits available either way. At the moment, there are two options available, a Porch smash kit and a bloody mary kit. The former includes lemon juice, lemon oleo, and mint (add whiskey at home), and the latter includes tomato juice, a rub, hot sauce, horseradish, lemon juice, candied bacon, and pickles (add any booze at home.)

The restaurant plans to add two additional kits: the Chilloma (grapefruit juice, lemon juice, grapefruit oleo, dehydrated grapefruit, salt; add tequila at home) and the Beautiful South (pralines, peach, lemon juice, dehydrated lemon; add bourbon at home.)

Each costs $22 for four servings or $30 for six.

Bonus option with booze: Tapster

Greater Boston area

Tapster [Official Image]

Tapster is a new Boston-based app that launched in late 2019, offering delivery from local liquor stores. (And don’t forget about Boston-based Drizly, around since 2012, which is now a major national player in this arena.)

One section of the Tapster app includes suggested drink kits — and unlike the restaurant deliveries above, these do include the alcohol. For example, the Baileys martini kit (around $60, depending on which store(s) are in your delivery radius) includes a 750-mL bottle of Baileys Irish cream and a 750-mL bottle of Ketel One vodka. Other kits available include a Cape Codder, gimlet, mint julep, vodka fizz, and more.