Murree Brewery

Murree Brewery (مری بریوری); PSX: MUREB) is a Pakistani multinational manufacturer of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. It is Pakistan's largest and oldest producer of alcoholic products. In 2015, it produced 10 million litres of beer, along with hundreds of tons of single malt whisky, vodka and brandy.[2][3] Founded by the British in 1860, it is a publicly traded company listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange, its products are exported to India and Bangladesh.[4][5] In 2014, the company established a flagship store on Park Avenue, in Manhattan, New York City.[6] In 2013, it was named by Forbes as one of Asia's 200 best companies.[7][8][9][10][11]

Murree Brewery
Murree Brewery's logo
LocationNational Park Road, Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan
Opened1860 (1860)
Revenue ₨8.86 billion (US$55 million) - 2017[1]
Operating income ₨2.87 billion (US$18 million) - 2017
Net income ₨1.30 billion (US$8.1 million) - 2017
Total assets₨10.90 billion (US$68 million) - 2017
Owned byIsphanyar M. Bhandara (present Chief Executive)
Active beers
Name Type
Murree beers
Murree Beer Beer
Murree's Classic Lager Lager
Murree's Millennium Beer
Lite Export Pils Pilsner
Murree's Strong Brew Beer
Murree's Special Strong Brew Beer
Strauss Beer Beer
Murree's Stout Beer Stout
Murree's Wheat Beer Witbier
Liquors beers
Rarest Malt Whisky Whisky
Malt Whisky Classic Whisky
Vintage Whisky Whisky
Bolskaya Vodka
Murree's Vodka Vodka
Gin beers
Silver Top Gin Gin
London Dry Gin Dry Gin
Citrus Gin Gin
Lemo' Lime Gin Gin
Non Alcoholic beers
Cindy NAB
Malt-79 Stout

The brewery has two manufacturing units located in Rawalpindi, Punjab and Hattar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is one of Pakistan's fastest-growing companies.[12][13]

History
Ruins of one of the earliest buildings used by Murree Brewery

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.[14]

The Brewery was managed by the family of Edward Dyer, father of Colonel Reginald Edward Harry Dyer of Jallianwala Bagh massacre notoriety.[15][16][17][18][19] 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 revival style of architecture, was burnt during the independence of Pakistan in 1947, while the brewery in Quetta was destroyed in the 1935 Quetta earthquake. In the 1940s, the controlling share or interest in the brewery was obtained by a Parsi, Peshton Bandhara, who used to run a liquor business in Lahore before Pakistani independence. His son, the late M.P. Bandhara later carried on the business and now it is being run by a grandson, 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.

A can of Peach Malt, one of Murree Brewery's non-alcoholic products.

A 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.[20]

"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 in Pakistan".[21][22]

Recent growth

In 1977, the Murree Brewery suffered a significant setback when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto imposed a total alcohol prohibition in Pakistan. 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.

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 Foster's, but this scheme is still in development.

The Murree Brewery is one of the oldest public companies of South Asia. Its shares were traded on the Calcutta Stock Exchange as early as 1902, and it is now the oldest continuing industrial enterprise of Pakistan and among the top 25 performing public companies on 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.[23]

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.[24]

On June 6, 2012, Scout Willis, the daughter of Hollywood actor Bruce Willis, was arrested in New York City and jailed overnight for drinking a beer manufactured by Murree Brewery.[25]

Shareholder dispute

On 19 October 2016 the Lahore High Court Lahore heard the case between Kingsway Capital LLP and Murree Brewery Co. Ltd., where Kingsway Capital LLP petitioned the Murree Brewery Co. Ltd. EOGM of 29 September 2016 to be declared as invalid and unlawful. The petition was thereafter allowed.[26] On 7 September 2016 Kingsway Fund replied to the Pakistan Stock Exchange regarding allegations in the "Murree Letter"[27] published by the Pakistan Stock Exchange on 3 September 2016.[28]

See also

Notes
  1. "Murree Brewery Annual Report 2017-18" (PDF). www.murreebrewery.com.
  2. "Murree with a curry: Pakistan alcohol booms – The Express Tribune". 2016-09-12. Retrieved 2016-09-12.
  3. "Pakistani distillery challenges scotch whiskey". The Chicago Tribune. Chicago, IL: Tronc, Inc. 2006-12-07. Retrieved 2017-10-17. But it's here in dusty Rawalpindi that the only malt whiskey distillery in the Muslim world is preparing to launch its newest product--a 21-year single malt that it claims will rival the best Scotch whiskey
  4. "Murree: The legendary Pakistani beer that wants to come to India". 2016-06-09. Retrieved 2016-09-12.
  5. "Murree Brewery soon to brew in India – The Express Tribune". 2013-11-30. Retrieved 2016-09-12.
  6. "Pakistan's Only Legal Brewery Is Coming to the US". 2014-07-01. Retrieved 2016-09-12.
  7. "Murree Brewery on the Forbes Asia's 200 Best Under A Billion List". Retrieved 2016-09-12.
  8. Murree Brewery Pakistan, Forbidden Bevarage, Isphanyar Bhandara is Zoroastrian | Parsi News Zoroastrian News
  9. Murree Brewery Still brewing in a dry land: Pakistan’s Parsi Brewery | Parsi Khabar
  10. "Alcoholic Drinks in Pakistan". Euromonitor.com. Retrieved 2015-08-04.
  11. "Alcohol in Pakistan: The prohibition and after – Blogs". Dawn.Com. Retrieved 2015-08-04.
  12. "Pakistan's Murree Brewery Thrives Despite Muslim Laws". Retrieved 2016-09-12.
  13. Recorder, Business. "Murree Brewery Company | Business Recorder". Business Recorder. Retrieved 2016-09-12.
  14. "Murree Brewery Company Ltd: History". Murree Brewery Company Ltd. Retrieved 7 December 2009.
  15. Colvin, Ian Duncan (1929-01-01). The life of General Dyer. Edinburgh; London: W. Blackwood & Sons Ltd. OCLC 1335678.
  16. Colvin, Ian Duncan (2006-01-01). The Life of General Dyer. Unistar Books.
  17. Collett, Nigel (2006-10-15). The Butcher of Amritsar: General Reginald Dyer. A&C Black. ISBN 9781852855758.
  18. Saikia, Arunabh (2016-04-23). "How Old Monk went from India's star to another has-been". Mint on Sunday. Retrieved 2017-01-30.
  19. http://lawrencecollege.edu.pk/reginald-edward-harry-dyer/
  20. "Pollution problem for Pakistan brewery". BBC News. 8 February 2001.
  21. "Five Of The World's Most Unlikely Whisky Producers". Whisky Distilled. Retrieved 2015-08-04.
  22. Wilkinson, Isambard (2007-02-26). "Pakistan brewery produces Muslim world's first 20-year whisky". Telegraph. Retrieved 2015-08-04.
  23. New Year’s Eve: City too dry and too wet Malik, Sonia; The Express Tribune; December 31, 2010
  24. "Murree Brewery soon to brew in India". Express Tribune. 30 November 2013. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
  25. "Daughter of Bruce Willis, Demi Moore arrested in NY – The Express Tribune". 2012-06-06. Retrieved 2016-09-12.
  26. |title=Judgement Sheet in the Lahore High Court Lahore Judicial Department|date=2016-10-19|
  27. |title=Notice|date=2016-09-05|
  28. |title=Notice|date=2016-09-08|

References
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