E-Malt.com News article: Pakistan: The only brewery in Islamic country is growing despite alcohol prohibition

The Murree Brewery, Pakistan’s only licensed beer maker, is continuing growing in spite of Islamic alcohol prohibition, Associated Press commented on May 24.

The Murree Brewery was established in 1861 to slake the thirst of British troops across the Indian subcontinent. The beer maker lost much of its market when Pakistan won independence nearly 60 years ago, but still prospers as the Islamic country's only licensed beer maker.

Despite prohibition that bars Muslims - about 97 % of the population - from drinking alcohol, business is brisk and later this year, Murree will uncork its finest vintage yet: an 18-year old single malt whisky.

On paper, the brewery caters only for a niche market of minority Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Parsees and expatriates. In reality, much of its output supplies a burgeoning black market for illicit drinkers.

Even President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who lives across the road, is rumored to enjoy a whisky.
"Officially, Muslims may only imbibe alcohol on pain of punishment, but unofficially, it's easy for Muslims to acquire it," said Minoo Bhandara, the brewery's bespectacled chief executive.

Non-Muslims make up 3 percent of the population, and probably account for about the same proportion of the consumption of alcohol, he observed dryly.

The Murree beer bottle label still proudly recounts its medal for product excellence at the Philadelphia Exhibition in 1876. Its beer became popular in army messes across British India, and as the company's Web site delicately puts it: "The virtues of beer brewed from barley malt and hops as a light alcoholic beverage were not lost on the local population who became avid consumers."

The brewery's heyday was in World War II, producing 1.6 million gallons (6.1 million liters) of beer a year. The boom came to an abrupt halt when Pakistan achieved independence from Britain in 1947. The new Islamic state barred Muslims from drinking.

Prohibition, however, was "rather tepid," said Bhandara. Many got around prohibition by obtaining doctor's certificates saying they needed alcohol for a medical condition. The law still threatens three years in jail and 20 lashes for Muslims caught drinking alcohol in public.

Only non-Muslims can acquire an alcohol permit that allows them to buy for consumption at home on religious holidays. Drinkers are meant to return anything left over within a week, but in practice, no customer would even think about bringing back their empties.

There are about 120 licensed alcohol sellers across Pakistan - usually located at holes-in-the-wall, hidden at the back of upscale hotels, crowded by sheepish customers who slink away with bottles of liquor concealed in black plastic bags.

Bhandara, whose father bought into the brewery at independence, said that if there was open availability of liquor and less punitive taxation, production would grow three or fourfold - back to its wartime peak - but he didn't expect the rules to relax because of the still-strong religious lobby.

Instead, the brewery is attempting to break into the British market, with the catchphrase: "Have a Curry With Your Murree." Many pubgoers in England round off a night out with a meal at an Indian restaurant, washed down with a pint. As exporting alcohol from Pakistan is forbidden, another brewery in Austria actually makes the beer.

The brewery in Rawalpindi, modernized in the 1990s with German technology, can produce about 8,000 bottles of beer an hour. It also makes a wide range of soft drinks and spirits, including critically acclaimed single malt whiskies stored in the vaults.

Most of Murree's 400 staff are Muslims, among them quality control chief Huma Zubair, a chemist and microbiologist who learned brewing in the United States.

She recounted how she was questioned for an hour at immigration when she arrived for her course in Chicago in 1996, as U.S. authorities didn't believe there was a brewery in Pakistan and that if there was, a woman would work there.


25 May, 2005