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After Abu Dhabi allowed beer brewing in 2021, Chad McGehee co-founded Craft, which offers between eight and 14 beers at a time, many of them rich in local flavours – Copyright AFP Giuseppe CACACE<\/small><\/em><\/p>\nSahar Al Attar<\/em><\/p>\nInside his Abu Dhabi gastro pub, Chad McGehee inspects shiny steel tanks fermenting a special brew: the first beer made in the conservative Arab Gulf, where alcohol has long been taboo.<\/p>\n
The 42-year-old American is one of the founders of Craft pub in the\u00a0capital of the United Arab Emirates, the only licensed microbrewery in a region that is generally as dry as its desert climate.<\/p>\n
As they seek to overhaul their image and economies in preparation for a post-oil future, some Gulf\u00a0petro-states are relaxing alcohol restrictions, with entrepreneurs such as McGehee looking to benefit from the changes.<\/p>\n
Just a few hours\u2019 drive from Abu Dhabi lies Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, which has just one licensed alcohol store, open only to non-Muslim foreign diplomats.<\/p>\n
Alcohol sales are heavily restricted in Oman and Qatar and are outright banned in Kuwait, and in Sharjah, one of the UAE\u2019s seven emirates and a neighbour to cosmopolitan Dubai.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope that we can make Abu Dhabi a destination people come to for beer, like Germany, New York or San Diego,\u201d McGehee told AFP on a recent visit to Craft, as patrons sipped beer nearby.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to be part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The UAE has steadily loosened laws around alcohol. Last year, Dubai scrapped a 30 percent tax on alcohol and removed charges on the permits that allow non-Muslims to use its licensed stores.<\/p>\n
In 2021, Abu Dhabi became the only emirate to allow licensed venues to brew on-site, stipulating that the beer be served only on the premises.<\/p>\n
Rules are slowly changing elsewhere: Saudi Arabia opened its store in the capital Riyadh this year, prompting speculation it may further relax alcohol laws in the future.<\/p>\n
However, Tourism Minister Ahmed Al Khateeb told AFP last month that the national ban will remain in place.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u2018Whatever we find at the souq\u2019 \u2013<\/p>\n
McGehee founded Side Hustle Brews and Spirits in 2019, at that point offering the UAE\u2019s first home-branded \u2014 albeit imported \u2014 beer.<\/p>\n
After Abu Dhabi allowed brewing, he co-founded Craft, which offers between eight and 14 beers at a time, many of them rich in local flavours such as karak tea, a popular drink in the Gulf.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever we find at the local souq (market), we try to make something out of it,\u201d McGehee said at Craft, where beer taps are linked directly to the brewing tanks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have used local honey, local dates, and coffee\u2026 we have another (beer) that uses black tea and saffron and cardamom,\u201d added McGehee, referring to the ingredients of karak tea.<\/p>\n
In the UAE, whose population of around 10 million is 90 percent foreign, the sale and consumption of alcohol was once confined to hotel bars frequented by expatriates.<\/p>\n
According to Alexandre Kazerouni, associate professor at France\u2019s Ecole Normale Superieure, the Gulf monarchies began to skew heavily towards conservatism and a commitment to religion after Iran\u2019s shah was toppled in the Islamic revolution of 1979.<\/p>\n
It was only in the 2000s that Abu Dhabi, the dominant emirate in a country with more than 9,000 mosques, began to cultivate a more liberal image, gradually relaxing social curbs including those around alcohol, which is forbidden in some interpretations of Islam.<\/p>\n
The change of alcohol regulations \u201cbreaks with the bans that were consolidated in the \u201980s and \u201990s,\u201d Kazerouni said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is competition\u2026 with Qatar and Saudi Arabia over who will embody change in the region,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Party hub \u2013<\/p>\n
Abu Dhabi, which aims to attract nearly 40 million tourists by 2030, up from 24 million last year, is also competing with Dubai, renowned as the UAE\u2019s holiday and party hub which commands a higher international profile.<\/p>\n
Craft customer Andrew Burgess, a Briton who has lived in the UAE for 17 years, said he has watched the country transform before his eyes.<\/p>\n
When he first moved there, expatriates were barred from eating or drinking in public during the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast from dawn to dusk.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo come to a bar, you had to go at night-time after everything was covered,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
All that has since changed, but Western attitudes towards Gulf countries have yet to catch up.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I go back to England, my friends say \u2018How do you live in a Muslim country? Your wife must be suppressed and you can\u2019t drink\u2019,\u201d Burgess told AFP.<\/p>\n
Microbreweries like Craft \u201cwill just open their eyes\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about reconstructing people\u2019s mindsets.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
Taboo to brew: conservative Gulf gets first local beer
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#Taboo #brew #conservative #Gulf #local #beer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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