After many years of fighting and trying, it has finally happened. The New York State Liquor Authority announced Thursday that beer, cider, and wine can now be served in movie theaters across the state. Some lawmakers have long felt the sale of booze could help boost business and attendance at theaters. With COVID-19 continuing to put a huge cramp on the industry, leading many to stream new releases that are simultaneously made available at home, this could save a lot of theaters.

A number of theaters across the country have already been doing this, including theaters in New York City that offered table service. Other theaters were allowed to serve booze only if the customer drank it in a lobby cafe area, or if the venue also served as a functioning restaurant (places like Alamo Drafthouse). Now, you can actually buy the alcohol at a concession stand with your popcorn, and then bring it into the theater. This could change a lot of things. The changes go into effect immediately, though it could take a little while for the theaters to obtain their licenses.

This again applies to beer, cider, and wine. Movie theaters still won’t be allowed to sell liquor or mixed drinks. That remains prohibited, according to Gothamist.

While some films like Marvel's Spider-Man: No Way Home have recently flourished, other more adult-oriented films have not done so great at the gate.

In other news, a new brewery has opened a taproom in the Hudson Valley. It's been a long journey for the three owners of this uniquely named operation. Location, finances, and even a pandemic have been factors that they've had to face along the way. However, their path now takes them to Orange County where a new taproom has opened its doors to the public. Read about here. 

LOOK: Best Beers From Every State

To find the best beer in each state and Washington D.C., Stacker analyzed January 2020 data from BeerAdvocate, a website that gathers user scores for beer in real-time. BeerAdvocate makes its determinations by compiling consumer ratings for all 50 states and Washington D.C. and applying a weighted rank to each. The weighted rank pulls the beer toward the list's average based on the number of ratings it has and aims to allow lesser-known beers to increase in rank. Only beers with at least 10 rankings to be considered; we took it a step further to only include beers with at least 100 user rankings in our gallery. Keep reading to find out what the best beer is in each of the 50 states and Washington D.C.

LOOK: Food history from the year you were born

From product innovations to major recalls, Stacker researched what happened in food history every year since 1921, according to news and government sources.
 

LOOK: Route 66’s quirkiest and most wonderful attractions state by state

Stacker compiled a list of 50 attractions--state by state--to see along the drive, drawing on information from historic sites, news stories, Roadside America, and the National Park Service. Keep reading to discover where travelers can get their kicks on Route 66.

What Are the Signature Drinks From Every State?

See the Must-Drive Roads in Every State

LOOK: Here are the best lake towns to live in

Many of the included towns jump out at the casual observer as popular summer-rental spots--the Ozarks' Branson, Missouri, or Arizona's Lake Havasu--it might surprise you to dive deeper into some quality-of-life offerings beyond the beach and vacation homes. You'll likely pick up some knowledge from a wide range of Americana: one of the last remaining 1950s-style drive-ins in the Midwest; a Florida town that started as a Civil War veteran retirement area; an island boasting some of the country's top public schools and wealth-earners right in the middle of a lake between Seattle and Bellevue; and even a California town containing much more than Johnny Cash's prison blues.

RANKED: Here are the most popular national parks

To determine the most popular national parks in the United States, Stacker compiled data from the National Park Service on the number of recreational visits each site had in 2020. Keep reading to discover the 50 most popular national parks in the United States, in reverse order from #50 to #1. And be sure to check with individuals parks before you visit to find out about ongoing, pandemic-related safety precautions at www.nps.gov/coronavirus.

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