Mississippi Bars and Shops Face Liquor Bottleneck

Several states located all across the U.S. have one thing in common: their governments play a part in the sale of alcohol, through liquor stores or distribution or both. Sometimes, these systems get attention for how they play into larger booze-related trends, as when Virginia sought a better way to distribute rare whiskey bottles. The latest instance of a state’s involvement in selling booze is less about what’s on the shelves than what isn’t. And in this case, the answer is “a lot.”

As Mississippi Today’s Katherine Lin reports, issues at the state agency that oversees the distribution of liquor have led to a number of businesses dealing with a dwindling supply. As Lin explains, this has affected businesses of all sizes, from modestly-sized retailers to “[c]asinos and restaurants across the state.”

Ironically, the reason for the delays is connected to a system upgrade designed to make the distribution of liquor more efficient. Earlier this year, Mississippi’s department of Alcoholic Beverage Control scheduled a time to upgrade their warehouse facilities, including putting a new software system in place. The delays that this caused went much longer than expected, due to factors like the aforementioned software not working properly with some existing warehouse systems.

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Troubles with the warehouse’s systems are not the only issues affecting businesses across the state. In speaking with store and restaurant owners and managers, Lin also found instances where the amounts billed did not match what was delivered — another problem that compounds these other issues to make life even harder for places that sell alcohol and people looking to buy it. VinePair’s reporting suggests that the inventory issues will be worked out by late spring, suggesting more frustration in the short term.

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Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll lives and writes in New York City, and has been covering a wide variety of subjects — including (but not limited to) books, soccer and drinks — for many years. His writing has been published by the likes of the Los Angeles Times, Pitchfork, Literary Hub, Vulture, Punch, the New York Times and Men’s Journal. At InsideHook, he has…