New Orleans Breweries Are Feeling the Impact of the Government Shutdown

New beers and breweries awaiting approval by the agency responsible for distributing licenses, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, may mean less seasonal offerings from New Orleans’ thriving brewery scene this spring.

The agency is among those currently closed amid the government shutdown in Washington over funding for a U.S.-Mexico border wall. According to the Associated Press, “an established New Orleans brewer” will be delayed in its plans to open a second location, as it awaits action from three federal agencies: the tax and trade bureau for a permit, the Small Business Administration for a loan and the IRS for an employer tax identification number.

The explosion of craft beer makers in New Orleans has been steady in the last few years after NOLA Brewing first landed in 2009. Since then the city has seen Second Line Brewing, Urban South, Courtyard Brewery, and Port Orleans pop up, among many others.

The AP also points that once the shutdown ends, the 33 craft breweries in Louisiana will be competing against more than 6,000 other craft breweries across America for government services.

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• The Beer Geek’s Guide to New Orleans [ENOLA]
• Louisiana breweries impacted by federal government shutdown [AP]