For the first real Carnival celebration since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, many New Orleans bartenders and bar owners are feeling the pressure of different shortages, including Jameson Irish Whiskey.
“If there is no Jameson and I’m hosting 400 New Orleans bartenders, there would be a riot,” Sarah Manowitz, who had to postpone an event on Jan. 17 for the Barman’s Fund, told New Orleans publication Gambit.
According to Gambit, bartenders have started to notice that many of their customers’ favorite drinks are increasingly hard to come by. Jameson, one of the most popular whiskeys in the country, has been especially hard to find — running dry at not only bars, but distributors as well. For many in the industry, this adds an uneasy air about the entire festival.
“We still have Jameson but don’t rely on it for volume any longer,” Bailey Smith, co-owner of R Bar and Bud Rips, told the Gambit. “As I understand it, [Tullamore D.E.W.] is about to get scarce for a moment, too.”
But it isn’t just Irish whiskey that’s facing a drought. Supply-chain shortages have caused a series of pressures for bartenders, with not only barfly favorites like name-brand tequila and whiskey running low, but also practical items such as shot glasses, pour spouts, and mixers like 7-Up.
Mardi Gras will take place on Mar. 1, but celebrations really started on Jan. 6, a day on the Christian calendar known as the Twelfth Night. According to the Associated Press, New Orleans will be having several new accommodations and revisions to the celebration due to the pandemic and the Omicron variant. And parades will be shortened, due to a shortage of police officers, medics, and first responders. Whether this and the shortage of alcohol will keep travelers and revelers at bay is yet to be determined.
