This afternoon Governor Pritzker announced the unprecedented step of closing all bars and restaurants for dine-in services in Illinois as a measure to curtail the spread of COVID-19.

You can read the press release here.

From the Governor’s statement:

The state is working closely with restaurant owners and food delivery services to ensure kitchens can safely remain open to continue food delivery and put in place drive-thru and curbside pickup options for restaurants to continue to serve the public.

This likely also applies to tasting rooms and tap rooms.

No word yet from the Illinois Liquor Control Commission as to whether the rules currently prohibiting certain manufacturers from directly delivering to customers will be lifted during the crisis so that those wineries, distilleries and breweries reliant mainly upon tap room sales may defray the negative economic impact of this decision.

The post BREAKING! Illinois orders all bars and restaurants closed to dine-in customers beginning at the end of business March 16 and remain closed through March 30. appeared first on Libation Law Blog.