Murree Brewery

Murree Brewery ; karse: 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. Founded by the British in 1860, it is a publicly traded company listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange, and its products are exported to India and Bangladesh.  In 2014, the company established a flagship store on Park Avenue, in Manhattan, New York City. In 2013, it was named by Forbes as one of Asia's 200 best companies.

The brewery has two manufacturing units, one located in Rawalpindi, Punjab, and the other in Hattar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It has three divisions – Liquor (which deals with alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks), Tops (which focuses on food items, mineral water, and fruit juices), and Glass (which makes glass jars and bottles) divisions. It is one of Pakistan's fastest-growing companies.

History


The Murree Brewery Company Ltd. was established in 1860 to meet the demands of British military and civilian personnel at Ghora Gali near the resort town of Murree. The Brewery was managed by the family of Edward Dyer. He was the father of Colonel Reginald Dyer, the British army officer who was infamously responsible for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. 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 M. 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 single malt whisky.

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.

"Rarest Malt Whisky"
In 2007, Murree became the Muslim world's first distillery 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, the CEO of Murree Brewery claimed that "99 per cent of his customers are Muslims in Pakistan".

Recent growth
In 1977, the Murree Brewery suffered a significant setback when Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto imposed a total alcohol prohibition in Pakistan. Subsequently, the government of President 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.

On 6 June 2012, Scout Willis, the daughter of Hollywood actors Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, was arrested in New York City and jailed overnight for drinking a beer, manufactured by Murree Brewery. This incident resulted in free publicity for the company via word-of-mouth marketing, leading in to line up various distributors in the USA and Dubai as part of its expansion plans.

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.

Shareholder dispute
On 19 October 2016, the Lahore High Court 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. On 7 September 2016, Kingsway Fund replied to the Pakistan Stock Exchange regarding allegations in the "Murree Letter" published by the Pakistan Stock Exchange on 3 September 2016.