Fredericton — No beer? No problem! That’s the new mantra at Alcool NB Liquor, the Crown corporation responsible for retail sales of all alcoholic beverages in New Brunswick.

After reviewing the past quarter at fledgling Cannabis NB, ANBL now says when it comes to stocking its shelves it’s clear that its judgment has been impaired.

“I think we’ve been getting this supply and demand thing all wrong,” says ANBL CEO Harry Briman. “That type of inventory management is a thing of the past. We’ve learned from Cannabis NB that we don’t have to actually stock the store shelves with the products that we are selling. We just need to say that we’re doing our best, and put out whatever shit we can on any given day. That kind of thinking is a game-changer!

“Frankly, we’ve been so focussed on making sure that we have beer to sell at the liquor stores that it didn’t even occur to us that there was an option to not have it,” Briman confessed. “I mean, we were even worried about making sure the beer was cold by having an entire damn refrigerator room! Now we see that if you don’t have the beer when people show up, we think most people will be cool about it.

“It’s like pot and the dispensaries,” he said. “If we don’t have the beer at the stores, I’m sure that people will just find a friendly neighbourhood bootlegger out there to get them what they need. It seems to work fine for weed. Also, this could be a tremendous opportunity for the craft beer and home-brewing business!”

“And let’s face it, most New Brunswickers are lushes anyways. It literally wouldn’t kill them to miss out on a beer now and again,” he laughed.