Proposed liquor law change would enable movie theaters to sell craft beer

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Two companies with movie theaters in Brooklyn and Yonkers offer full meals — with alcohol — for customers to consume while they watch their movies.

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, a chain based based in Austin, Texas, and Brooklyn’s Nitehawk Cinema are operating under a New York law that licenses movie theaters to serve alcohol only if it’s offered with food and served at tables.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is proposing law changes that would make it easier for people all over the state to drink craft beverages while they’re at the movies. The initiative is part of several changes in state alcohol licensing laws Cuomo is promoting to encourage growth of craft beverages made in New York.

“We certainly support it,” said Paul Leone, executive director of the NY State Brewers Association. With more than 500 breweries in the state, there’s considerable competition for available taps in bars and space on store shelves, he said. Beer sales in movie theaters would open up a new opportunity for craft beverage makers.

Without the law change, theater owners would have to renovate their theaters to include tables and kitchens if they wanted to sell alcohol.

“That would involve a lot of renovations, a lot of changes,” said Scott Pukos, public relations coordinator at Rochester’s The Little Theatre. Even though The Little operates a café selling alcoholic drinks, current liquor licensing laws prohibit patrons from taking the drinks with them into the screening rooms.

Under Cuomo’s proposal, movie patrons might buy a beer at the refreshment counter like they buy a soda and popcorn before the movie starts. Alcohol sales would be limited to one per person per movie, and to movies rated PG-13 or higher.

Pukos said alcohol sales could help theaters compete with current trends in movie watching, such as home streaming, that are keeping people away from theaters.

A recent social media discussion on the topic elicited some comments from people who feared theater audiences would be more unruly than they already are if they could drink at the movies.

Pukos said The Little doesn’t draw a rowdy crowd, so he doesn’t envision that happening.

And Leone responded,  “No one’s going to the movies to get loud and drunk … All we’re doing in New York is doing what a lot of other states are already doing, and that is allowing grown-ups to be grown-ups and enjoy a craft beverage with their movie.”

In an effort to draw more people away from their screens at home, theaters already offer special events and activities. Pukos said The Little sometimes has sushi nights. It recently partnered with Rohrbach’s Brewing Company to create a beer flavored like nanaimo bars, a bakery treat The Little has sold for decades. Movie fans can drink that limited-edition beer at the brewery and at the theater’s café, but not, of course, while watching a movie at the theater.

“If this proposal goes through, we could have more creative collaborations like that,” Pukos said.

Indeed, the Nitehawk Cinema has made regular partners of a Brooklyn brewery, a distillery and a hot dog producer, all advertised on the theater’s web page and whose products are sold at its Williamsburg and Prospect Park theaters.

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