Minnesota shutdown: Unintended consequences - Updated

I was just thinking last night I hadn't heard any news about this in a while. Looks like the Minnesota shutdown is getting ugly:

Hundreds of bars, restaurants and stores across Minnesota are running out of beer and alcohol and others may soon run out of cigarettes -- a subtle and largely unforeseen consequence of a state government shutdown.

In the days leading up to the shutdown, thousands of outlets scrambled to renew their state-issued liquor purchasing cards. Many of them did not make it.

Now, with no end in sight to the shutdown, they face a summer of fast-dwindling alcohol supplies and a bottom line that looks increasingly bleak.

It's only a few hundred bars right now. The cigarette vendors are likely to totally crash first. Also, too, the state stands to lose millions in tax revenue from the lost sales. GOPers are of course blaming the Governor for their own refusal to negotiate a realistic budget that would reopen the state offices. Cause that's how they roll...

Update: Not rejoicing in anyone's misfortune and feel bad for their workers, but good to see it's not just the little guys who are going to suffer the losses:

The state's government shutdown, now in its 13th day, will soon force MillerCoors to pull its beer from Minnesota liquor stores, bars and restaurants. A state official says the law requires the company to remove products like Coors Light, Miller Lite and Blue Moon imminently. [...]

Neville says MillerCoors must remove the beer because they did not renew their brand label registration with the state before the shutdown began. By law, brewers must renew those registrations -- which show the label on each brand of beer -- every three years.

Maybe now that it's the big Republican supporters losing the big bucks, they'll be able to get the GOPers to negotiate. [Via Atrios]

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]