In a country where alcohol is banned, Pakistan’s top brewery is betting on soft drinks

RAWALPINDI Pakistan AP A pungent fug of malt and yeastiness hangs over Murree Brewery Pakistan s biggest and oldest producer of alcoholic drinks The company is an outlier in a country where alcohol is outlawed for everyone except non-Muslims who make up particular million people out of million Pakistan an Islamic republic banned booze for Muslims in the s Murree Brewery has strong financials despite the prohibition thanks to its history scant competition and a small thirsty and predominantly elite consumer base But the authorities exerts key control over the sale and marketing of alcoholic beverages through red tape and high taxes pushing brewery chairman Isphanyar Bandhara to expand the company s footprint in Pakistan s non-alcoholic drinks industry which although bigger is more crowded and less lucrative Even I tell my staff of about that we cannot sit on our laurels by selling alcohol revealed Bandhara the third generation of his family to run the -year-old business that was founded by the British It s a restricted industry so we have to rely and focus more on the non-alcoholic side That s where I think I would like to flex my muscles and take credit rather than being a liquor baron The brewery already manufactures capacity drinks juices and malted beverages but they are not as well known as products from big international brands However this part of the business is registering double-digit increase and Bandhara wants to cash in on the country s youth bulge Around of the population is under The state has a lot of say Pakistan s regime determines the brewery s alcohol prices points of sale and customer base Last year it took million from the brewery s revenue in taxes The company cannot advertise its alcoholic beverages or expand that part of the business inside Pakistan Online shopping is unavailable The brewery is permitted to export beer to countries outside the Organization of Islamic Cooperation a -member bloc even though there is a big demand for liquor and beer in Muslim-majority countries Bandhara noted Meanwhile more Pakistanis drink far more sodas and juices with billions of dollars in sales every year PepsiCo and Coca-Cola dominate but there are also homegrown brands The multinationals are thriving in Pakistan Bandhara commented It s a rewarding territory There might be less money in non-alcoholic drinks but it s more secure Murree Brewery s malted drinks line is packaged in a way that strongly resembles its beery counterparts The taste while not unpleasant is distinctive sweet and slightly yeasty How to drink in Pakistan Alcohol is a niche item in Pakistan Even cooking ingredients like red wine vinegar and buying essentials like cough medicine is hard because of their alcohol content however minuscule Five-star hotels slip a drinks list into the in-room dining menu or decant alcohol into a more discreet vessel like a teapot Several restaurants usually upscale allow diners to bring a bottle but seat them away from others or shield the pour from prying eyes There is often a windowless joyless bar in major Pakistani cities Non-Muslims nationals and foreigners can get a liquor permit allowing them to buy limited amounts of alcohol Diplomats and the elite are a rich source of booze with well-stocked cabinets and sometimes entire rooms dedicated to drinks There are also wine shops but only in various provinces and run by non-Muslims Selected wine shops deliver to customers waiting in their cars for discretion Home delivery is also available It s not expensive to buy beer reported Faisal a Pakistani Muslim drinker who is in his s and lives in the province of Sindh He only gave his first name because he is emerging the law A local beer will cost rupees but you can save rupees if you don t want it chilled He added Beer is cheaper than coffee in Pakistan but you only need one coffee whereas you need a lot of beer Minorities and the booze area Non-sanctioned alcohol drinking in Pakistan is punishable by lashes of a whip although the Federal Shariat Court deemed the penalty un-Islamic in a ruling Alcohol is considered haram or forbidden in Islam Although a sin and not a crime scholars and religious leadership typically point to a verse in the Quran that calls intoxicants the work of Satan and tells believers to avoid them They also cite sayings of the Prophet Muhammad and the effects of alcohol Nonetheless stacked on pallets at Murree Brewery on a fresh day were boxes of booze The beer was heading to government-authorized retailer Pearl Continental Hotel in the eastern city of Lahore The whiskey was going to Sindh home to religious minorities including Hindus and Parsis Bandhara who is Parsi is one of the brewery s leading tasters Only non-Muslims can sample the company s alcoholic products We can t just force someone to drink an inferior drink so it has to be quality Bandhara mentioned If the German Embassy the Chinese Embassy and a lot of European embassies are my customers for beer I m calm on my quality Competition from the Chinese Hundreds of Pakistani distilleries produce the intoxicating agent ethanol which is mostly exported Home brewers are another source of alcoholic beverages But homemade liquor containing poisonous methanol has proved fatal and dozens of people have died over the years Murree Brewery s closest competition for alcohol is the Chinese-run Hui Coastal Brewery and Distillery Limited which began making beer in southwestern Balochistan in largely for the thousands of Chinese workers there Nobody from Hui was available to comment The granting of a licence to Hui in conservative Balochistan took Bandhara aback He mentioned he was unafraid of competition but sought a level playing field Decades ago his family required to set up a brewery in Punjab Pakistan s the greater part populous province Bandhara explained functionaries informed the family to keep their heads down because they were in a Muslim country If the Islamic lecture is for me why was the license given to the Chinese brewery he appealed We are a liquor company and we are the easiest to throw stones at and to criticize Source