Pakistani Whiskey Makes History In Islamic World
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan — Pakistan has won the distinction of producing the Islamic world’s first 20-year-old malt whisky.
The Murree Brewery in Rawalpindi, founded in 1860 to make ale and spirits for soldiers during the British Raj, is the only producer of whiskey and beer in a constitutionally Islamic country.
Despite a torrid history in which it has been burned down by protesters and temporarily shut down in an Islamist purge, the Murree Brewery has survived against the odds and has previously produced celebrated eight- and 12-year-old single malts.
“Few distilleries in the world, even the high-end ones in Scotland, produce 20-year-old malts,” said Minnoo Bhandara, the Parsee businessman whose family has run the brewery since the creation of Pakistan at the partition of British India in 1947.
Officially, the 20-year malt will be true to its name: “Rarest.” Under Pakistani law, it cannot be drunk by 97% of the country, and it cannot be exported.
But the production of the rare whiskey has coincided with an unprecedented debate in Pakistan about the prohibition on drinking alcohol.
In 1977, the former prime minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, bowed to the demands of Islamic political parties and imposed an alcohol ban on Muslims.
Since then, the brewery has officially been catering for the 3% of Pakistan’s population that comprises of the non-Muslim communities of Christians, Hindus, and those of Mr. Bhandara’s Zoroastrian faith.
