Chinese Bars are Delivering Drinks to Stay Afloat Through Coronavirus Quarantine

Some bars in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and China’s other big cities are taking coronavirus confinement in their stride.

With many people holed up indoors due to the outbreak of Covid-19, a growing number of bars are taking to the streets to deliver drinks. As the New York Post reports, some bars are even sticking to their usual happy hour deals. But it’s not all fun and games — the measures come as many small businesses close, unable to pay out employees through a profit-less dead period.

Circumstances are different across different cities, but some of the more severe measures taken to halt the spread of the virus have stopped people from leaving their homes, or even from gathering in groups — dinner and drinks included.

Shanghai cocktail venue Union Trading Company, which regularly makes the “Asia’s Best Bars” list, is one of those to take matters into their own hands, announcing their freshly-minted delivery service “in light of our combined unfortunate circumstances”:

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A post shared by Union Trading Company (@uniontradingco)

Elsewhere, the alcohol industry is coming to viewers at home through livestreaming; a text message ad for a Ballantine’s whiskey livestream sale starts off, “Stuck inside, you can still drink with your friends”:

An ad for a livestream selling Ballantine’s whiskey

No word on how sales of a certain Mexican beer brand are going, however.

A toast, to the bad times.