Murree Brewery
|
Murree Brewery's logo | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | National Park Road, Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opened | 1860 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Owner(s) | Isphanyar M. Bhandara (present Chief Executive) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Active beers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Murree Brewery (Urdu: مری; KSE: MUREB) is a Pakistani multinational manufacturer of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage's. It is Pakistan's largest and oldest producer of alcoholic product's, in 2015, it produced 10 million litres of beer, along with hundreds of tons of single malt whisky, scotch whisky, vodka and brandy.[1]
Founded by the British in 1860, it is a publicly traded company listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange, it's product's are exported to India and Bangladesh.[2][3] In 2014, the company established a flagship store on Park Avenue, in Manhattan, New York City.[4] In 2013, it was named by Forbes as Asia's 200 best companies.[5][6][7][8][9]
The brewery has two manufacturing units located in Rawalpindi, Punjab and Hattar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is one of Pakistan's fastest growing companies.[10][11] On June 6, 2012, Scout Willis, the daughter of Bruce Willis, was arrested in New York City and jailed overnight for drinking a beer manefactured by Murree Brewery.[12]
History
The Murree Brewery Company Ltd. was established in 1860 to meet the beer demand of British personnel at Ghora Gali near the resort place of Murree.[13]
The Brewery was managed by the family of Edward Dyer. In the 1880s the company established a further brewery in Rawalpindi and a distillery in Quetta.
Due to scarcity of water in Murree in the 1920s, brewing was mostly transferred to Rawalpindi but malting continued at Ghora Gali until the 1940s, when this property was sold. This brewery, built in the Gothic style of architecture, was burnt during the independence of Pakistan in 1947, while the brewery in Quetta was destroyed in the 1935 Balochistan earthquake. In the 1940s, the controlling share or interest in the brewery was obtained by Peshton Bandhara, who used to run a liquor business in Lahore prior to the independence of Pakistan. His son, late M.P. Bandhara later carried on the business and now it is being run by a grandson, Mr Isphanyar Bandhara.
In the 1960s the brewery imported oak casks from North America, Australia and Spain, and the underground cellars now hold over half a million litres of malt whisky for varying periods of maturation up to 12 years. Murree brewery produces a generally excellent world class single malt whisky.
New beer canning and modern bottle filling facility were installed in the 1990s, imported from Germany. In 2001, the brewery had been temporarily closed for producing too much polluting waste. Authorities slapped the environmental protection order on the Murree Brewery in Rawalpindi, Islamabad's twin city.[14]
Rarest Malt Whisky
In 2007, Murree became the muslim world's first brewery to make 20-year-old malt whisky named Rarest Malt Whisky. But according to law, it cannot be exported and cannot be consumed by 97% of the population of Pakistan as local law prohibits muslims from drinking alcohol. However CEO of Murree claims that "99 per cent of his customers are Muslims".[15][16]
Recent growth
In 1977, the Murree Brewery suffered a significant setback when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto imposed a total alcohol prohibition in Pakistan, to appease Islamic elements of the electorate. Subsequently the government of General Zia-ul-Haq amended this law, requiring anyone wishing to consume alcohol to present credentials demonstrating that they were non-Muslim. The small Christian, Hindu, and Parsi communities were not large enough to support the enterprise, and production had to be scaled back.
However, gradual relaxation of the prohibition laws has allowed Murree to introduce variations of Murree beer, vodka, gin, and whisky. Today, all Murree products are readily available in legal liquor shops that operate openly in Karachi in places like Zamzama and Defence. It is also available in the interior of Sindh. Although the consumption of alcohol in public places is still nominally banned, it is becoming increasingly available in clubs and high-class restaurants.
Murree Beer was initially being produced in Austria for European markets and was available in various Pakistani and Indian restaurants, an enterprise which has since ceased since 2004. The current CEO, Isphanyar Bhandara has announced plans to pursue co-brewing with Fosters, but this scheme is still in development.
The Murree Brewery is one of the oldest public companies of the South Asia. Its shares were traded on the Calcutta Stock Exchange as early as 1902, and is now the oldest continuing industrial enterprise of Pakistan and among the top 25 performing public companies by the Karachi Stock Exchange.
Murree's biggest competitor is the Quetta Distillery, and its products have to increasingly vie with smuggled brands from the West and India.[17]
In 2013, Murree Brewery opened a franchise in India to a Bangalore-based entrepreneur, allowing the brewing, bottling and marketing of the beer in India.[18]
See also
Notes
- ↑ "Murree with a curry: Pakistan alcohol booms - The Express Tribune". 2016-09-12. Retrieved 2016-09-12.
- ↑ "Murree: The legendary Pakistani beer that wants to come to India". 2016-06-09. Retrieved 2016-09-12.
- ↑ "Murree Brewery soon to brew in India - The Express Tribune". 2013-11-30. Retrieved 2016-09-12.
- ↑ "Pakistan's Only Legal Brewery Is Coming to the US". 2014-07-01. Retrieved 2016-09-12.
- ↑ "Murree Brewery on the Forbes Asia's 200 Best Under A Billion List". Retrieved 2016-09-12.
- ↑ Murree Brewery Pakistan, Forbidden Bevarage, Isphanyar Bhandara is Zoroastrian | Parsi News Zoroastrian News
- ↑ Murree Brewery Still brewing in a dry land: Pakistan’s Parsi Brewery | Parsi Khabar
- ↑ "Alcoholic Drinks in Pakistan". Euromonitor.com. Retrieved 2015-08-04.
- ↑ "Alcohol in Pakistan: The prohibition and after - Blogs". Dawn.Com. Retrieved 2015-08-04.
- ↑ "Pakistan's Murree Brewery Thrives Despite Muslim Laws". Retrieved 2016-09-12.
- ↑ Recorder, Business. "Murree Brewery Company | Business Recorder". Business Recorder. Retrieved 2016-09-12.
- ↑ "Daughter of Bruce Willis, Demi Moore arrested in NY - The Express Tribune". 2012-06-06. Retrieved 2016-09-12.
- ↑ "Murree Brewery Company Ltd: History". Murree Brewery Company Ltd. Retrieved 7 December 2009.
- ↑ "Pollution problem for Pakistan brewery". BBC News. 8 February 2001.
- ↑ "Five Of The World's Most Unlikely Whisky Producers". Whisky Distilled. Retrieved 2015-08-04.
- ↑ Wilkinson, Isambard (2007-02-26). "Pakistan brewery produces Muslim world's first 20-year whisky". Telegraph. Retrieved 2015-08-04.
- ↑ New Year’s Eve: City too dry and too wet Malik, Sonia; The Express Tribune; December 31, 2010
- ↑ "Murree Brewery soon to brew in India". Express Tribune. 30 November 2013. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
References
- Buncombe, Andrew (5 November 2009). "Still brewing in a dry land: Pakistan's only beer and whisky firm". The Independent. London. Retrieved 5 November 2009.
- McCarthy, Rory (22 July 2000). "Islam and Black Label hit brewery". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 11 December 2009.
- Smith, Elliot Blair (5 July 2002). "Brewer must walk softly on obstacle-filled path". USA Today. Retrieved 7 December 2009.
