Skip to main content

Supply Chain Causes Drinks Shortages Across the Country

The supply chain bottleneck has become much more than an inconvenience. Entire industries are reeling from the massive ripple effects, including just about every layer of the drinks realm.

Some of it is even comical. You know, the tales of Champagne being rush delivered to the Hamptons by way of helicopter amid a reported shortage. But it’s become a big deal, challenging everything from labor and equipment supplies to access to key ingredients. It’s so much more than a colossal cargo ship stuck in the Suez Canal. The slumping global economy of the last year-and-a-half has simply pumped the breaks on a lot of things we always just assumed would be there.

“Related

Mary Bartlett is the co-founder of Future Gin. Because all of her ingredients are sourced domestically, the brand has fared pretty well. “The biggest problem has been sourcing glass bottles,” Bartlett says. “There’s a glass shortage everywhere but to compound that, a lot of brands that sourced their bottles internationally before the pandemic have had to move to domestic glass so there’s just not enough for all of us. We’ve had to push back a couple of production runs while we looked for bottles and for one run, had to substitute a different bottle.”

Wine Bottles on a shelf.
Hermes Rivera / Unsplash

Brett Dunne is the managing director of Lucas Bols, an international spirits company. He covers the U.S. and Canada, specifically, but because they import goods from all over, it’s a truly global enterprise. Dunne is proud of how his team has pivoted but cannot believe the cost of freight these days. He says in the last year alone, the cost of ocean freight from Europe to the U.S. has more than doubled.

“The real problem can be traced back to one thing—manpower,” he says. “The entire supply chain is stressed like never before because there simply are not enough people to produce raw materials, move those materials from point A to B, and there is a lack of that same manpower to move finished goods through the supply chain.”

It’s a mean combo of heightened shipping costs, escalated prices for goods, and not enough bodies to keep things rolling. The lag time now is astonishing, as Dunne describes it, and he thinks it will likely get worse before it starts to improve. “Where it took five to six weeks to get a container from Europe into our warehouse prior to COVID, it now takes ten to twelve weeks,” he says. “Moving goods from our domestic warehouse in Louisville to our distributors used to take three to five days. Now we sometimes wait two to three weeks just for a truck to be available to pick up the goods. So, pre-COVID from Europe to our distributors could be six to eight weeks, now it’s four to five months!”

Ivan Vasquez is the owner of Madre Oaxacan Restaurant & Mezcaleria in southern California. He looks after three locations and depends heavily on imported goods from south of the border. He says he’s routinely out of beer, even the major brands like Pacifico, something he’s never experienced before. “The brands and owners of the beer companies are saying that this is caused by issues at the border, distributors not having enough workers at the warehouse, and a lack of drivers,” Vasquez says.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

He says up to half of his beer menu, one that relies on artisanal Mexican selections, has been out of stock multiple times. It’s tricky for mezcal, too, as the glass shortage has affected producers and many have had to delay orders to the U.S. There’s yet another wrinkle: Vasquez says that even if the goods he needs do make it across the border, short-staffed companies and inexperienced workers may not get it into his hands. “Some of our exclusive mezcals were being sent to other accounts because some of the distributors are facing this labor shortage and they have inexperienced workers or just no employees at all,” he says.

About that Champagne shortage? It’s complicated. According to the Champagne Bureau, the volume of the prized bubbles exported to the states actually declined about 20% in 2020, mainly because of the pandemic and people spending less frivolously (a similar decline occurred in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis). What’s more to blame recently is the weather. There have been frost and fires, all in one growing season, and Champagne is likely to produce its lowest yield in four decades. Some estimate that in the end, the year’s crop will have taken a colossal 60% hit.

That’s bad timing, as some economies begin to rebound and people start spending big on wine again (and looking for an excuse to celebrate). Fortunately, as we’ve reported many times before, there are other sparkling wines out there that are just about as good and sometimes better. Back home, the domestic wine scene fared better this year, but there were widespread reports of labor shortages around harvest, especially along the west coast. Luckily, the wildfire pressure in 2021 was lighter and therefore easier on the grapes.

All in all, we’re still in it and patience and ingenuity will get us out of it. In the meantime, tip your bartender well, treat your bottle shop to some business, and don’t expect to have quite the sea of drinks options you normally have—not just yet, anyway.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Mark Stock
Mark Stock is a writer from Portland, Oregon. He fell into wine during the Recession and has been fixated on the stuff since…
A Guide to Texas Wine and the Hill Country
Duchman Family Winery

Texas is a massive state home to big cities, sprawling plains, and some of the best barbecue on the planet. It's also home to the nation's fifth-largest wine scene in terms of production and growing rapidly. Most of it goes down in the Hill Country outside of Austin and if this region is not on your wine tourism map yet, it ought to be.
Of the several American Viticultural Areas (AVA) in Texas, Hill Country is far and away the largest. In fact, at 9 million acres, it's the second-largest AVA in the nation. Visitors are treated to an assortment of varietals, from Cabernet Sauvignon and Tempranillo to Merlot, Sangiovese, and Tannat. There are white wines too, like Viognier, Riesling, Blanc de Bois, and more. And the weather tends to be stellar, meaning optimal sipping conditions pretty much year-round.

Here are the wineries to visit while sipping in the Lone Star State, along with a few suggestions on where to eat (hint: at pretty much every barbecue stand you come across) and overnight. Go thirsty and hungry and return satisfied. Also, with the pandemic still looming, be courteous and check in with each business beforehand to see what the reservation policy and COVID protocols are.
C.L. Butaud

Read more
Gary Vaynerchuk’s NFT Restaurant Coming To NYC Next Year
Flyfish Club's graphic images of potential sushi meals that can be accessed via NFT next year in New York City.

It’s an old-school idea in a new world package: access to Manhattan’s new Flyfish Club will be restricted to exclusive members. Your ticket? A cryptocurrency NFT, or non-fungible token.

On January 18, the VCR Group-founded venture announced that it’s coming to Manhattan early next year as the world’s “first NFT restaurant." In order to partake of the “globally inspired” seafood menu, diners will need to flash Flyfish digital tokens. And if you choose to move on from the Flyfish Club? Simply sell or lease your membership token on the secondary market. This secondary market is, in fact, already booming.

Read more
A Look at the Trending Schwarzbier, the Black Lager
Central Coast Brewing Schwarzbier

The drinks universe moves like the fashion world. One minute something is in form and coveted, the next minute it's old news. Right now, one of the most buzzed-about beers is the Schwarzbier.

Also known as a black lager, or malta, in some corners of South America, the Schwarzbier dates back to the 14th century. Unsurprisingly, it all started in beer-loving Germany, with the first documentation in the year 1390. It's a malty number, dark in color with an intricate flavor profile. One of the most enjoyable beers to say out loud, the style is a little deceptive. Looking at the glass, you expect a behemoth, but on the palate, it's a fairly svelte animal.

Read more