Surviving the Idaho Beer Shortage and Tales of Woe

You needn't rush out and hoard beer.  We did experience a supply shortage a couple of years ago.  I’ll talk about that in a moment.  What you’re seeing here is a large delivery truck that couldn’t move on an icy parking lot off Washington Street in Twin Falls.  I doubled back and took some pictures after seeing some men attempting to put mats beneath the wheels for traction.  Maybe the trailer was nearly empty and very light.  I drove off to do some errands and about 15 minutes later drove by the truck a second time.  It had moved just a few feet.

How Long Could You Survive Without a Cold One

If a winter storm does this, imagine what would happen if the grid went down for an extended period?  Or if we lost a bridge.  The supply chain is so very complex, it doesn’t take much to disrupt its movement.  Something we took for granted two years ago.

An emergency responder once told me beer is one of the first things many people stock up on when they get advance notice of a big storm.  He went into some snowbound mountains once to check on people in cabins.  He laughed when he told me they had plenty of wood for fires and cases of beer stacked against walls.

Supply Chains are in Crisis

Like any other product, cold drinks still need to get from point A to point B.  A couple of years ago I was talking with a fellow at a brewery in Boise.  Not long after the so-called pandemic arrived.  He had trouble simply getting his product to shelves outside Treasure Valley.  By the way, many of the materials for cans and bottles come from China.  If that chain breaks...

You would think a government that would like to keep the public calm in times of crisis would recognize the need for some items to make it to Twin Falls.  I’m reminded of a scene from the original Airplane film!