Stuck at home with little to do but work, sleep and stream, it’s no surprise Canadians are taking to drink. In a recent poll, a quarter of adults said they’ve been imbibing more alcohol since the start of the pandemic, which should be great news if booze is your business. Corby Spirit and Wine, one of Canada’s largest purveyors of liquor (think J.P. Wiser’s whisky and Polar Ice vodka) and distributor of brands owned by its majority shareholder Pernod Ricard (Absolute Vodka, Jacob’s Creek wines), has seen sales soar despite the recurring shutdowns of the hospitality industry. But Nicolas Krantz, a Frenchman who became CEO of Corby last August, knows that in so-called “sin goods,” doing too well is an invitation to regulatory scrutiny.--
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