Restaurants
The legislation allows Boston restaurants with beer-and-wine licenses to exchange it for a non-transferable all-alcohol license.
Boston’s Licensing Board this week approved the first batch of restaurant and bar applications seeking to transfer their beer and wine licenses for a coveted all-alcohol license.
The department, which doles out food and beverage licenses to the city’s restaurants, held a hearing Wednesday, when lawyers and managers from five restaurants went before the board to exchange their licenses. On Thursday, the board approved all five applications.
The restaurants who were approved to trade in their beer-and-wine license for an all-alcohol license were 89 Charles, Bebop, Carmelina’s, New England Wicked Craft Company, and Serafina.
This exchange means these restaurants can finally serve spirits or cocktails with liquor instead of what they were originally restricted to, which was beer, wine, and/or cordials.
These five restaurants were able to do this exchange because of an item in the 2026 Massachusetts State Budget that lets municipalities grant restaurants an upgrade from a beer and wine license to a license that would allow them to serve spirits as well. The provision was inserted into the budget by state Rep. Aaron Michlewitz, a North End Democrat, last year. Boston’s City Council approved legislation introduced by Mayor Michelle Wu in September, but it wasn’t until Jan. 8 that the Licensing Board finalized regulations.
Some of the regulations and guidelines allow businesses to not go through the community process if one was done within the past two years or prove public need for those who have held some type of alcohol license for at least one year.
These upgraded licenses are also non-transferable, meaning they must be returned to the city instead of being sold in Boston’s private market of licenses — a part of the liquor license landscape in the city due to the state’s cap on liquor licenses available in Boston. The nearly-century-old cap by state lawmakers means the Licensing Board rarely has any new liquor licenses available for new businesses, and restaurant owners can instead sell their license for as much as $600,000 on the private market.
All-alcohol licenses are harder to get and are the most expensive licenses to obtain on the private market, forcing some restaurant owners to take an available beer and wine license.
“Just weeks after finalizing the regulations, we are thrilled to approve the first five beer and wine upgrades,” said Kathleen Joyce, Chair of the Boston Licensing Board. “Business owners have been enthusiastic about this opportunity, and it’s clear from the number of applications that there is a need for these upgrades. We look forward to approving additional applications and are here to help throughout the process.”
A spokesperson said there are already other applicants seeking this exchange that are queued up for a future hearing.
The provision also coincides with a major bill passed in 2024 that would add 225 liquor licenses in Boston. Most of the licenses are zip code-restricted, favoring Boston’s underserved neighborhoods that have far fewer restaurants that serve alcohol due to the limit on licenses and the price tag on the private market.
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