The Murree brewery in Rawalpindi, Pakistan is full of surprises but the most amazing thing about it is that it exists at all. Way back in 1860, a decade after the British annexation of the Punjab, it all made sense. Lots of thirsty British troopers wanted beer and so a brewery was built in the Murree Hills (around 6,000ft above sea level) where many were barracked. The brewery was very successful, selling to locals as well as to the wider British community across India. To cope with demand two other breweries were opened including, in 1889, one in Rawalpindi, some 35 miles away, which by that time was becoming the main centre for the British military.
In due course, production centred on the Rawalpindi brewery and business continued much as normal until the British withdrawal from India, and the creation of the new country of Pakistan, in 1947. This saw the displacement of some 10 to 20 million people. At that point the brewery’s market changed from the pre-1947 India to the new Pakistan, a country with a 97% Muslim population. Nevertheless the brewery thrived in the new country under the Parsi family that still own the company and, for 30 years, alcohol could be bought and drank in many shops and bars.
The big problem came in 1977 when president Zulfaqir Ali Bhutto imposed a total prohibition on alcohol to appease conservative Muslims. Little good it did him; he was out of power later that year and was executed in 1979. The brewery changed its focus to soft drinks but was then thrown a lifeline by Bhutto’s successor, General Zia-ul-Haq, who amended the law to allow anyone wanting to buy or consume alcohol to do so if they presented credentials proving that they were not Muslim. No advertising or exports were allowed however and outlets were very restricted.
Had the reach of the brewery been limited to the adult part of the 3% of Pakistan’s population (230 million and rising) which is Christian, Hindu or Parsi, it surely would have had to close its substantial brewery. However the Muslim demand for alcohol didn’t cease with prohibition and the market finds a way…
My wife and I now find ourselves living in Islamabad, at the British High Commission, and we were offered the opportunity to join a tour to Pakistan’s only brewery (see note); we signed up straight away. As the brewery is now completely surrounded by military buildings, access is not straightforward. This military connection seems to be a continuing theme. Malty aromas pervade the area.
The tour started at 10am on a scorching morning with a welcome and a tasting in the board room, which is bedecked with ancient ledgers and old photos. Bottled and canned beers were on offer plus soft drinks. As there are no bars in Pakistan there is no draught beer, so sadly there is no real ale either. The beers were however very welcome and came in a wide range of styles and strengths. Beer production is currently 1.1 million cases of beer per annum (11 million litres) and Murree employs 700 staff.
Moving on from our early tasting, we were shown around the brewery. Murree gets its barley mainly from Australia and its hops from Europe. It has its own deep wells for brewing water. The brewing equipment is mainly German, dating from the 1960s, but the place certainly has the feel of a traditional British Victorian brewery. It was nice to do a tour when the production is in full swing – a rarity in the UK now.
At some point we realised that the barley imported from Australia had not been malted. I was surprised and delighted to find that there was a maltings within the brewery. I have never seen this in the UK. There were at least two ‘Saladin Germination Boxes’ where tonnes of barley would be steeped and germinated while being roused by corkscrew devices on a moving gantry (see picture). This totally makes sense when you are effectively the only brewery in the country. There is no third party to supply the industry: Murree is the industry. For this reason Murree also make their own bottles and cans.
The canning and bottling lines were a hive of industry, with the usual noisy conveyor belts, chillers and pasteurisers. Some very chilled cans of their Millennium Brew (a 7.5% ABV Imperial Pilsener) were liberated for us before the tops were put on and the cans pasteurised. In the 40°C heat of the brewery it went down very well!
From the sweltering production line we were taken down into an underground cellar kept at around 10°C. Another surprise: 45 gallon Bourbon barrels filled with malt whisky made on site, 3,022 of them! They also make gin, vodka, rum and ‘Murree’s Doctor’s Brandy’! We finished the tour with a few more beers in the board room and thanked our generous hosts.
Murree brewery is a survivor but for how long? On the one hand it’s the oldest continuing industrial enterprise in Pakistan and one of the highest tax payers. Its products are safe in a country where alcohol smuggling and illegal production are rife. On the other hand, the prohibition upon Muslims is never seriously challenged and a future conservative-Islamic or populist government might be tempted to close the brewery and end the hypocrisy of the rich boozers. Long may it last!
Grant Cook
Note: actually there is one other commercial brewery in Pakistan. The Hui Coastal Brewery in Baluchistan now brews for the growing Chinese workforce in that area.