The imposition of a complete ban on alcohol (Joint Committee Print 108-59)

In case you didn't already know, Islamic law prohibits the sale and purchase of alcohol among Muslims in Pakistan. If you are a non-Muslim, you can obtain a card that allows you purchase alcohol, but still, it's pretty hard to find a place with a non-Muslim to buy it from.

Like many missions, the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad has a commissary, which has permission to import alcohol into the country. So diplomatic employees of the embassy can buy alcohol there pretty much any day of the week -- unless there are shortages, sometimes because of bureacratic hold-ups. At separate times during our year here, the commissary has been devoid of all beer and all red wine.

So it's pretty strange to consider that Murree Brewery, the only brewery in Pakistan, exists. On a recent weekend, we headed to its factory in Rawalpindi for a tour and tasting (left). The brewery used to be based in the mountain town of Murree, thus the name, because of the quality of water available there, but logistical costs drove it to move down to the valley into the Islamabad suburb. As its logo indicates (right), the brewery was established in 1860 during colonization by the British, who are known to enjoy a stout now and again.

 

So the brewery is more than 150 years old, and its facilities are not so young either. Taking a tour through the facility was like taking a step back in time. The drying ovens date to 1944, according to a placard (top left). The brew pots are manned by workers who stir the boil with wooden poles when necessary (top right). Normally, the factory is powered by electricity and gas, but load-shedding and petrol shortages mean workers sometimes, including the day we visited, have to run the plant with energy from a large wood-burning stove (bottom).

 

Even the barley is done up old school. The seeds arrive in plastic-woven -- finally, some signs of modernity -- bags (left), then they are spread along the length of entire floor of the factory to germinate slightly and naturally before the barley is incorporated into the mash (right).

 

In the bottling section of the brewery, there are more machines, but the big lights and many switches make them seem like they are straight out of a Cold War-era Mission Control (left). And quality control consists not of a computer, but a guy who pulls bottles off the line if they contain any impurities or don't contain enough liquid (right).

 

On this day, as you can see, the factory wasn't bottling beer but liquor. The brewery is known for its whisky (another British favorite, coincidentally), which is aged in a huge warehouse of casks (left). Apparently keeping the casks cool enough, especially during the country's hot and humid summer, is quite a task. But over the years, Murree has offered a selection of liquors, including a "lemon lime" gin and a vodka with a label remarkably similar to the old version of Smirnoff.

 

At first, I was a little shocked at all the cans stacked up outside (left), thinking they were full of beer that would become skunked, but they turned out to be empty. The full cans and bottles were loaded on Pakistan's famous jingle trucks (right), to be distributed to limited outlets throughout the country. Each province or terrority is in charge of granting permits for alcohol sales. In Islamabad, part of the Capital Territory, foreigners can purchase Murree products through a hotel. When we first arrived, Murree beer was available in the commissary, but when the outlet was forced to contract with a single distributor, it opted for one with international brands.

 

So it had been a long time since we had actually tasted Murree beer. The tasting started prior to the tour, perhaps to dull the shock of the outdated equipment. We were allowed to serve ourselves from a selection of the best beers in Pakistan: Special Strong Brew, Millennium Brew, Classic Lager, and Murree Beer (top). After the tour, we were treated to draft beer, served from a large beaker, perhaps the most scientific instrument in the place (bottom left). The brewery owners graciously provided us with snacks to sustain us, and much to my surprise, right as we were leaving, we were given a set of four mugs, replicas of the ones we had been using (and I had been coveting) during the tasting (bottom right).

 

Sadly, I did not manage to get a bottle opener, but I did sneak out a cardboard coaster with the slogan "Have a Curry with Your Murree!"