Eat, Drink, and Be Murree

Beer Advocate pointed me to a mildly entertaining video on Murree beer, which triggered a limeflower-beer madeleine cascade of memories, throwing me back to high school, and Pakistan.

Indian subcontinent kids like us were limited to four K-12 schools for our parents to choose from (besides correspondence courses, which I actually took for half of 10^th grade). The main one was AES, New Delhi (moi, class of ’84); Kodai Kanal, near Madras, to the south; Woodstock, in northern India; and Murree, in northwest Pakistan. Senior year, I was elected student council president, and was expected to attend an annual international school conference with other government geeks.

I actually wasn’t a government geek; I gave a speech that was merely better performed than my opponent’s (who was far better qualified – and whom I dated years later on-and-off in the States – digress much?). Anyhouse, that year it was in Murree, Pakistan’s version of Kodai.

Not to get all Wikipedia on you, BUT, when Her Majesty’s Army wrested control of Punjab from the Sikhs (while failing to occupy Afghanistan), they were garrisoned in Rawalpindi. Murree, at 2300 m, was an oasis from the heat and crowds 50 km to the south. British soldiers were partially paid in beer rations (since the water could kill you). The Murree Brewery Co. Ltd. has been malting, brewing and distilling since 1860. From what I can glean from their awesomely Pakistani web site, they’re mostly bland-looking light lagers, with "a distinctive test and flavor... Murree's Classic Larger (is) Smooth on the plate… …corresponds in flour and quality to the famous beer brewed in Pilsen, Czech Republic.”

But one style sang out to me:
Murree's Millennium
Our flagship beer 8% alc. v/v. Brewed from highest grade Australian malt and Hallertau a German Hop products. The millennium is celebration brew for special occasion.

Eight percent volume by volume? That’s pretty high octane, for an Islamic beverage. Then again, they keep going, distilling their beers into vodkas, whiskeys, rums, and gins. With strict Sharia prohibition on consumption, and a ban on all imports of alcohol, what would be Murree Brewery’s chief competitor? If the word "prohibition" gave you a hint, you guessed it: bootlegged and black market tharra.

Photos: Spiegel Online

From this NY Times article:
“Alcohol was officially illegal but widely available in the years after independence, with doctors allowed to issue certificates asserting that their patients needed it for medical purposes. The 1979 prohibition is more strictly enforced, but it, too, is evaded. Many non-Muslims make a tidy profit by selling alcohol to their Muslim friends. It is sometimes said that the only people in Pakistan who do not know how to find liquor are foreign tourists. Murree has 350 full-time employees and another 125 or so who work part time. Some hide the truth about where they work. The American-trained quality-control manager, for example, tells friends that she works for a soft drink company.”

Which reminds me: what’s the difference between a Baptist, a Lutheran, and a Catholic? Catholics don’t recognize Saint Luther; Lutherans don’t recognize the Pope; Baptists don’t recognize each other in the liquor store.

Chances are, I’ll probably never return to Murree, which was as consistently beautiful as any Asian hill station. I won't get to drink the probably-not-delicious plate of floury larger with its distinctive test. Mais que recherche agreeable du temps perdu.

Murree, Pakistan