5 St. Louis restaurants offering curbside cocktail kits

It’s Friday night (or Tuesday or Wednesday, because who cares anymore) and you want to toast up with the gang. Your first impulse, naturally, is to ask yourself where you feel like going. Alas, you cannot go anywhere! But you’re tired of the spirits and bar supplies you frantically hoarded two weeks ago. What is to be done?  

When the stay-at-home orders started, some restaurants were offering batched cocktails for pickup alongside food, but those initiatives have all but ceased at this point. After refusing to waive the law prohibiting the sale of to-go pre-mixed drinks and cocktails as some states have, Missouri recently shut down Mission Taco Joint’s to-go margarita program, forcing them and many other local spots to consider new options.  

The consensus has been to turn cocktails into a team sport. With kits from places like Mission Taco Joint and Wang Gang Asian Eats, customers can get the tools they need to successfully batch their own mixed drinks. So in lieu of hitting your favorite neighborhood spot, just order from one of these places and become your own bartender. Then, throw on some indie rock or jazz and call your friend on FaceTime to complain about your job or your love life. How’s that any different than going to a bar?  

Mission Taco Joint has bounced back with margarita kits that include a bottle of private label Una Vida blanco tequila and half a gallon of fresh margarita juice. The juice is also available by itself. $30 to $80  

Wang Gang Asian Eats offers two options: The bloody mary kit includes one liter of Tito’s vodka, 32 ounces of Zing Zang mix, olives and a Wang Gang pint glass, white the Moscow mule kit has one liter of Tito’s, one bottle of ginger beer, lime and a copper mug. $30 to $35 

Frida’s is selling red and white sangria in bottles that serve three, as well as various mixers that customers can add to their favorite spirits. The elderflower mix boasts orange and pomegranate and is recommended for rum, vodka and gin, while the cherry-lavender mix is reportedly best with mezcal and vodka. $10 

Retreat Gastropub’s new Take & Shake mixes aim to replicate drinks from Yellowbelly. The passionfruit, miso and almond mix is recommended with bourbon to replicate Yellowbelly’s Lion’s Share drink, while the coconut, ginger, turmeric and pineapple drink goes best with rum and is reminiscent of Yellowbelly’s signature eponymous cocktail. Both are sold in 12-ounce pouches and can make six to eight cocktails (the alcohol is sold separately). $25 

Taco Buddha is doing two margarita kits. One comes with 375-ml of reposado tequila, triple sec and a half-gallon of margarita mix to make about eight margs. The larger version comes with 750 ml of masuave blanco tequila, triple sec and a gallon of margarita mix – and makes about 15 drinks. Customers can also buy the mix on its own. $12 to $95

Adam Rothbarth is the staff writer at Sauce Magazine.