Metaphorically speaking , the Murree brewery sits on one of the major fault lines of Pakistan’s often contradictory society. While Muslims have been banned from buying or drinking alcohol since 1977, few private social gatherings among the country’s political or business élite take place without the lubrication of liquor. A well-established network of bootleggers dealing in both locally produced and smuggled alcohol ensures that, while bars do not exist except for a couple of gloomy premises in five-star hotels, a drink in a private home is never far away.
For an institution such as the brewery, this two-faced attitude towards alcohol has meant several things. Firstly, while Christians, Hindus, Zoroastrians and other non-Muslims officially constitute its customers, there is a private acknowledgement that the overwhelming majority of drinkers are Muslims who work their way through the easily exploited permit system. Non-Muslims and foreigners can acquire an official permit that allows them to buy 30 bottles of beer or a quart of spirits every month. Reports suggest that such permits are easy both to copy and to obtain fraudulently.
At the same time, the brewery and distillery have to operate within a set of cramping rules. They are not allowed to advertise their products, for instance, and they have yet to be given permission to export them. The Islamic Ideology Council of Pakistan, which advises the government on policy issues, has made clear that it believes the export of alcohol abroad would damage the country’s international image. The council’s secretary Riaz-ur-Rehman confirmed: "We cannot allow anyone in the country to be engaged in the trade or production of alcohol."
Meanwhile, the company, which earlier this year produced the Muslim world’s first 20-year-old malt, provides the state and federal authorities with around $1m (£604,000) a month in taxes and duty.
"Absurd as it sounds, it’s true," said Mr Bhandara, who is a member of Pakistan’s tiny population of Zoroastrians or Parsis and is also, ironically, a teetotaller, even though he is permitted to drink because of his religion. "It’s totally hypocritical. I’m talking to the government at the moment about permission to export our beer to Britain [where it would be marketed with the catchphrase 'Have a Murree with your curry'], as many Asians in Britain are familiar with our products. Carlsberg were going to brew and sell it in the UK but then they said the beer market was shrinking. I am saying to them we have a 20 per cent increase in beer sales year-on-year in a Muslim country."
The Murree Brewery, shares of which are publicly traded on the Pakistan stock exchange in Karachi, was initially established in 1860 among the woods and cooling breezes of the Murree Hills, 20 miles north of Islamabad, where the elevation of 6,000ft was perfect for producing light beer for British colonial troops. Growing demand for its award-winning products saw the company establish additional breweries in Quetta in 1886 and in Rawalpindi in 1889, the site of the current operation.