Could Minnesota Experience a Booze Shortage?

Remember when the coronavirus pandemic was beginning to affect our lives with shutdowns, working from home, toilet paper shortages, COVID testing and we were making more trips than usual to the liquor store?

A lot of businesses were closed but liquor stores were deemed essential and we certainly made the best of that. Well, all that buying we have been doing is starting to catch up with us.

Some states are already experiencing liquor and beer shortages. Pennsylvania is limiting bottles of liquor much like Costco limited the amount of toilet paper you could buy.

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North Carolina liquor stores are out of stock on many brands. I'm predicting the moonshine business is about to pick up. Other states currently being affected by the liquor shortage are Vermont, New Jersey, Ohio, and Virginia.

According to Newsbreak, David Ozgo, chief economist of the Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S., says, “I don’t think anybody saw the kind of demand that we’re seeing right now-- particularly in those high-end super-premium products-- coming.”

There are a few factors that are causing the disruption in the liquor industry besides not being able to meet current demand. Fuel prices, supply chain problems and even a slowdown in the manufacturing of glass bottles are all contributing to the shortage of liquor around the U.S.

And we all know what happens when demand is high and supply is low.  Yep, prices go up and we pay it because it's not like America is just going to quit drinking, right?

Hopefully, all this will be rectified before it hits Minnesota or it could be a long, long winter.