Pakistan’s biggest brewery is evolving from its 165-year-old liquor legacy

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (AP) — A pungent fug of malt and yeastiness hangs over Murree Brewery, Pakistan ’s biggest and oldest producer of alcoholic drinks.

The company is an outlier in a country where alcohol is outlawed for everyone except non-Muslims, who make up some 9 million people out of 241 million. Pakistan, an Islamic republic, banned booze for Muslims in the 1970s.

Murree Brewery has strong financials despite the prohibition, thanks to its history, scant competition and a small, thirsty and predominantly elite consumer base.

But the government exerts significant control over the sale and marketing of alcoholic beverages through red tape and high taxes, pushing brewery chairman Isphanyar Bandhara to expand the company's footprint in Pakistan's non-alcoholic drinks industry, which, although bigger, is more crowded and less lucrative.

“Even I tell my staff of about 2,200 that we cannot sit on our laurels by selling alcohol,” said Bandhara, the third generation of his family to run the 165-year-old business that was founded by the British. “It’s a restricted market, so we have to rely and focus more on the non-alcoholic side. That’s where I think I would like to flex my muscles and take credit, rather than being a liquor baron.”

The brewery already manufactures energy drinks, juices and malted beverages, but they are not as well known as products from big international brands. However, this part of the business is registering double-digit growth, and Bandhara wants to cash in on the country's youth bulge. Around 64% of the population is under 30.

Pakistan’s government determines the brewery’s alcohol prices, points of sale and customer base. Last year it took $35 million from the brewery's revenue in taxes. The company cannot advertise its alcoholic beverages or expand that part of the business inside Pakistan. Online shopping is unavailable.

The brewery is permitted to export beer to countries outside the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, a 57-member bloc, even though there is a “big demand for liquor and beer” in Muslim-majority countries, Bandhara said.

Meanwhile, more Pakistanis drink far more sodas and juices, with billions of dollars in sales every year. PepsiCo and Coca-Cola dominate, but there are also homegrown brands.

“The multinationals are thriving in Pakistan,” Bandhara said. “It’s a rewarding market. There might be less money (in non-alcoholic drinks), but it’s more secure.”

Murree Brewery's malted drinks line is packaged in a way that strongly resembles its beery counterparts. The taste, while not unpleasant, is distinctive, sweet and slightly yeasty.

Alcohol is a niche item in Pakistan. Even cooking ingredients like red wine vinegar, and buying essentials like cough medicine, is hard because of their alcohol content, however minuscule.

Five-star hotels slip a drinks list into the in-room dining menu or decant alcohol into a more discreet vessel, like a teapot. Some restaurants, usually upscale, allow diners to bring a bottle but seat them away from others or shield the pour from prying eyes. There is often a windowless, joyless bar in major Pakistani cities.

Non-Muslims — nationals and foreigners — can get a liquor permit allowing them to buy limited amounts of alcohol. Diplomats and the elite are a rich source of booze, with well-stocked cabinets and sometimes entire rooms dedicated to drinks.

There are also wine shops, but only in some provinces and run by non-Muslims. Some wine shops deliver to customers waiting in their cars, for discretion. Home delivery is also available.

“It’s not expensive to buy beer,” said Faisal, a Pakistani Muslim drinker who is in his 30s and lives in the province of Sindh. He only gave his first name because he is breaking the law. “A local beer will cost 500 rupees ($1.76), but you can save 50 rupees if you don’t want it chilled."

He added: “Beer is cheaper than coffee in Pakistan, but you only need one coffee whereas you need a lot of beer."

Non-sanctioned alcohol drinking in Pakistan is punishable by 80 lashes of a whip, although the Federal Shariat Court deemed the penalty un-Islamic in a 2009 ruling.

Alcohol is considered haram, or forbidden, in Islam. Although a sin and not a crime, scholars and religious authorities typically point to a verse in the Quran that calls intoxicants “the work of Satan” and tells believers to avoid them. They also cite sayings of the Prophet Muhammad and the effects of alcohol.

Nonetheless, stacked on pallets at Murree Brewery on a recent day were boxes of booze. The beer was heading to government-authorized retailer Pearl Continental Hotel in the eastern city of Lahore. The whiskey was going to Sindh, home to religious minorities including Hindus and Parsis.

Bandhara, who is Parsi, is one of the brewery’s leading tasters. Only non-Muslims can sample the company’s alcoholic products.

“We can’t just force someone to drink an inferior drink, so it has to be quality,” Bandhara said. “If the German Embassy, the Chinese Embassy and a lot of European embassies are my customers for beer, I’m comfortable on my quality.”

Hundreds of Pakistani distilleries produce the intoxicating agent ethanol, which is mostly exported. Home brewers are another source of alcoholic beverages. But homemade liquor containing poisonous methanol has proved fatal, and dozens of people have died over the years.

Murree Brewery’s closest competition for alcohol is the Chinese-run Hui Coastal Brewery and Distillery Limited, which began making beer in southwestern Balochistan in 2021, largely for the thousands of Chinese workers there.

Nobody from Hui was available to comment.

The granting of a licence to Hui in conservative Balochistan took Bandhara aback. He said he was unafraid of competition but wanted a level playing field.

Decades ago, his family wanted to set up a brewery in Punjab, Pakistan's most populous province. Bandhara said authorities told the family to keep their heads down because they were in a Muslim country.

“If the Islamic lecture is for me, why was the license given to the Chinese brewery?" he asked. "We are a liquor company, and we are the easiest to throw stones at and to criticize.”

Employees of the Murree Brewery work in a liquor production unit of the factory, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Monday, June 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

An employee of the Murree Brewery packs liquor bottles at a production unit of the factory, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Monday, June 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

A temperature gauge shows the temperature of barley in a processing unit of the Murree Brewery factory in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Monday, June 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Employees of the Murree Brewery work at a soft drink production unit of the factory, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Monday, June 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Isphanyar Bandhara, Chief Executive of the Murree Brewery talks with his assistant after an interview with The Associated Press, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Monday, June 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

U.S. President Donald Trump says Iran has proposed negotiations after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic as an ongoing crackdown on demonstrators has led to hundreds of deaths.

Trump said late Sunday that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports mount of increasing deaths and the government continues to arrest protesters.

“The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night.

Iran did not acknowledge Trump’s comments immediately. It has previously warned the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.

The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has accurately reported on past unrest in Iran, gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said at least 544 people have been killed so far, including 496 protesters and 48 people from the security forces. It said more than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.

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The threat comes as writers and other cultural leaders were targeted even before protests. The news agency highlighted specific celebrities who posted in solidarity with the protesters and scolded them for not condemning vandalism and destruction to public property or the deaths of security forces killed during clashes. The news agency accused those celebrities and leaders of inciting riots by expressing their support.

Canada said it “stands with the brave people of Iran” in a statement on social media that strongly condemned the killing of protesters during widespread protests that have rocked the country over the past two weeks.

“The Iranian regime must halt its horrific repression and intimidation and respect the human rights of its citizens,” Canada’s government said on Monday.

Iran’s foreign minister claimed Monday that “the situation has come under total control” after a bloody crackdown on nationwide protests in the country.

Abbas Araghchi offered no evidence for his claim.

Araghchi spoke to foreign diplomats in Tehran. The Qatar-funded Al Jazeera satellite news network, which has been allowed to work despite the internet being cut off in the country, carried his remarks.

Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed.

Iran’s foreign minister alleged Monday that nationwide protests in his nation “turned violent and bloody to give an excuse” for U.S. President Donald Trump to intervene.

Abbas Araghchi offered no evidence for his claim, which comes after over 500 have been reported killed by activists -- the vast majority coming from demonstrators.

Araghchi spoke to foreign diplomats in Tehran. The Qatar-funded Al Jazeera satellite news network, which has been allowed to work despite the internet being cut off in the country, carried his remarks.

Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed.

Iran has summoned the British ambassador over protesters twice taking down the Iranian flag at their embassy in London.

Iranian state television also said Monday that it complained about “certain terrorist organization that, under the guise of media, spread lies and promote violence and terrorism.” The United Kingdom is home to offices of the BBC’s Persian service and Iran International, both which long have been targeted by Iran.

Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed.

A huge crowd of demonstrators, some waving the flag of Iran, gathered Sunday afternoon along Veteran Avenue in LA’s Westwood neighborhood to protest against the Iranian government. Police eventually issued a dispersal order, and by early evening only about a hundred protesters were still in the area, ABC7 reported.

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Los Angeles police responded Sunday after somebody drove a U-Haul box truck down a street crowded with the the demonstrators, causing protesters to scramble out of the way and then run after the speeding vehicle to try to attack the driver. A police statement said one person was hit by the truck but nobody was seriously hurt.

The driver, a man who was not identified, was detained “pending further investigation,” police said in a statement Sunday evening.

Protesters burn the Iranian national flag during a rally in support of the nationwide mass demonstrations in Iran against the government in Paris, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)