Surviving decades of prohibition and strict export bans, Pakistan’s oldest and sole locally-owned brewery has officially resumed shipping alcoholic beverages to non-Islamic countries to generate foreign revenue.
In a striking commercial pivot for a nation where alcohol consumption remains strictly prohibited for the vast majority of its population, Pakistan’s sole locally-owned brewery has begun exporting its alcoholic beverages overseas. Murree Brewery, that has quietly operated under the radar of an Islamic republic for decades, recently dispatched shipments of beer and spirits to the United Kingdom, Japan, Portugal, and Thailand.
The move marks the end of a nearly 50-year export ban that severed the enterprise from the global market. Operating in a regulatory environment that heavily restricts domestic alcohol sales, Murree Brewery’s management is seizing a rare opportunity born out of recent policy amendments. The shift allows the company to cater to consumers outside the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), turning a product long viewed with domestic regulatory suspicion into a viable source of foreign currency for an economy in desperate need of external revenue.
Navigating a Restricted Market
The reality of producing mass quantities of alcohol in a teetotaling nation involves a delicate and continuous balancing act. For almost half a century, Murree Brewery has been confined to a narrow formal market, legally permitted to sell its alcoholic products only to non-Muslim citizens and foreign visitors through heavily regulated and government-registered outlets.
However, following a 2025 decision by the Pakistani government to grant the brewery an export license, the gates have slowly opened. The export manager for Murree Brewery, Rameez Shah, confirmed that the company is actively collaborating with its existing network of international distributors to place its alcoholic products on foreign shelves. Rather than aggressively expanding its production capacity right out of the gate, the brewery is currently focused on establishing a reliable distribution framework to gradually build its presence in a highly competitive global market. Every foreign shipment still requires a complex series of departmental clearances, ensuring the state maintains strict oversight over the outflow of the restricted goods.
The Economic Catalyst
The government’s decision to greenlight these exports is largely understood as a pragmatic response to severe macroeconomic pressures. Pakistan has been grappling with ongoing economic strain, making the prospect of foreign currency revenues highly attractive to policymakers. While the domestic alcohol market has little room for legal growth – given that the permitted consumer base constitutes less than four per cent of the country’s population – the international arena presents vast untapped potential.
The easing of the ban was also preceded by sustained internal lobbying, spearheaded by Isphanyar Bhandara, the current chief executive of the company and a member of Pakistan’s National Assembly. Bhandara’s efforts gained vital traction after the government allowed a Chinese-run coastal brewery and distillery in the Balochistan province in 2021. That facility was authorized to produce alcohol to cater specifically to Chinese nationals working on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor projects. This domestic precedent helped pave the way for Murree’s own export license, aligning corporate expansion with national financial interests. As one of the country’s most significant corporate taxpayers, Murree Brewery’s financial health is quietly recognized as a net positive for the state treasury.
The Non-Alcoholic Lifeline
Interestingly, Murree Brewery’s successful return to international alcohol sales is heavily subsidized by its robust portfolio of non-alcoholic products. During the decades when its signature beers and spirits were landlocked, the company survived – and thrived – by expanding into consumer goods that could easily travel through Pakistan’s mass market without ideological friction.
Over the years, the brewery built a highly lucrative revenue stream from packaged fruit juices, mineral water, energy drinks, and fruit-flavoured malts. This diversification not only served as an economic hedge but also laid the groundwork for today’s alcohol exports. By shipping these non-alcoholic beverages to over a dozen countries, Murree Brewery forged strong relationships with overseas distributors. These same partners, already familiar with the company’s reliability, paperwork, and supply chain logistics, are now the ones stocking Murree’s alcoholic range. This existing infrastructure has allowed the brewery to bypass the typical growing pains of entering foreign markets from scratch, utilizing a Trojan-horse strategy where juice and water paved the way for beer and gin.
A Century and a Half of Survival
The story of Murree Brewery is inextricably linked to the complex history of the subcontinent. Founded in the 1860s by British entrepreneurs in the hill station of Murree, the facility was originally established to ensure a steady supply of beer for British troops stationed in the region. Long before the partition of British India in 1947, the enterprise was acquired by a Parsi family, whose descendants continue to run the business today.
For its first century, the brewery freely exported its products. However, the landscape shifted dramatically in 1977 when then-Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, bowing to pressure from Islamist political factions, implemented a sweeping prohibition on alcohol. The legislation dealt a massive blow to the company, instantly reducing its consumer base and halting all international shipments on the grounds that an Islamic republic should not profit from the export of vice. Through subsequent decades marked by political upheaval and shifting cultural sands, the company maintained a policy of extreme discretion.
Cautious Optimism for the Future
Today, the results of that long-term survival strategy are evident. In its most recent financial reports, Murree Brewery surpassed the $100 million mark in annual revenue for the first time in its 165-year history, boasting improved operating margins and heightened profits. While non-alcoholic beverages make up a larger share of the physical volume sold, the alcoholic division remains the undisputed primary driver of the company’s revenue.
Despite this historic export milestone, the company’s leadership remains cautious. Murree Brewery has made it clear that it does not intend to draw unnecessary attention to its alcohol business within Pakistan, maintaining the low profile that has kept its operations secure for decades. Yet, for a company that has endured war, partition, and strict prohibition, the ability to finally send its core product across international borders feels less like a sudden boom and more like a hard-won victory.
