National Symbol: Star of David; Hoopoe; Olive; Cyclamen; Menorah
Affiliations: UN
Independence: Declared unilaterally, while awaiting a United Nations decision, from the British Mandate, May 14, 1948 [(Yom Ha'atzmaut) Independence from the British Mandate for Palestine, which took place on May 14, 1948 (5 Iyar 5708 in the Hebrew calendar). Yom Ha'atzmaut is celebrated on the Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday nearest to 5 Iyar, so it occurs between 3 and 6 Iyar each year; this means that the holiday can fall any time between and including April 15 and May 15, according to the Gregorian calendar.]
Alcohol Legal: Yes
Minimum Drinking Age: 18 [It is illegal to sell alcohol between 11:00 p.m and 6:00 a.m, outside of pubs and restaurants. It is also illegal to drink outdoors after 9:00 p.m.]
BAC: 0.05%
Label Requirements: N/A
Number of Breweries: 15
How to Say “Beer”: beera / באר / שכר / בירה
How to Order a Beer: A beer, zeit a-zoy goot (Yiddish)
How to Say “Cheers”: Le’chayim (“to life”) / Mazel Tov (“congratulations”)
Toasting Etiquette: The toast “le’chaim” (to life) is said whenever alcohol is served. Toasts are only made at formal occasions or sometimes when a contract is signed. It is acceptable to just touch the glass to your lips if you don’t wish to swallow the contents.
Religion(s): Sunni Muslim 74%, other Muslim (includes Alawite, Druze) 16%, Christian (various denominations) 10%, Jewish (tiny communities in Damascus, Al Qamishli, and Aleppo)
Capital: Damascus
Population: 22,530,746; 53rd
Area: 185,180 sq km, 89th
Comparative Area: Slightly larger than North Dakota
Independence: Declared itself a theocratic Islamic Republic, April 1, 1979, a.k.a. Republic Day
Alcohol Legal: No; While there is a ban on alcohol, religious minorities may purchase small amounts from shops owned by the same religious minority.
Minimum Drinking Age: Illegal
BAC: 0.00%
Label Requirements: N/A
Number of Breweries: 1
How to Say “Beer”: ab’jo / ابجو
How to Order a Beer: N/A
How to Say “Cheers”:Persian: (Be) salam ati (to your health) Nush (“Enjoy it, and let it be part of your body”); Baluchi: Vashi
Toasting Etiquette: N/A
Alcohol Consumption By Type:
Beer: Unknown
Wine: Unknown
Spirits: Unknown
Alcohol Consumption Per Capita (in litres):
Recorded: 0.02
Unrecorded: 1.00
Total: 1.02
Beer: 0.02
WHO Alcohol Data:
Per Capita Consumption: 0.02 litres
Alcohol Consumption Trend: Stable
Excise Taxes: Total ban
Minimum Age: Illegal
Sales Restrictions: Total ban
Advertising Restrictions: Total ban
Sponsorship/Promotional Restrictions: Total ban
Patterns of Drinking Score: 3
Prohibition: Iran began restricting alcohol consumption and production soon after the 1979 Revolution, with harsh penalties meted out for violations of the law. However, because of corruption, there is widespread and open violation of the law. Officially recognized non-Muslim minorities are allowed to produce alcoholic beverages for their own private consumption and for religious rites such as the Eucharist (two of the four religious minorities guaranteed representation in the Majlis, the Armenians and Assyrians, are Christian, the former being chiefly Armenian Apostolic and the latter being predominantly Chaldean Eastern Catholic).
Government Type: Government of National Unity (GNU)
Language: Arabic (official), English (official), Nubian, Ta Bedawie, Fur
Religion(s): Sunni Muslim, small Christian minority
Capital: Khartoum
Population: 45,047,502; 29th
Area: 1,861,484 sq km, 16th
Comparative Area: Slightly more than one-quarter the size of the US
National Food: Fuul or Lugma
National Symbol: Secretary Bird
Affiliations: UN, African Union, Arab League
Independence: From the UK, January 1, 1956
Alcohol Legal: No
Minimum Drinking Age: Was 16; Now Illegal
BAC: None
Label Requirements: N/A
Number of Breweries: 0
How to Say “Beer”: beereh (biræ)
How to Order a Beer: Waheed beera, meen fadleek
How to Say “Cheers”: Bismilah
Toasting Etiquette: N/A
Alcohol Consumption By Type:
Beer: <1%
Wine: <1%
Spirits: 20%
Other: 80%
Alcohol Consumption Per Capita (in litres):
Recorded: 1.56
Unrecorded: 0.82
Total: 2.38
Beer: 0.52
WHO Alcohol Data:
Per Capita Consumption: 1.56 litres
Alcohol Consumption Trend: Decreasing
Excise Taxes: Total ban
Minimum Age: Total ban
Sales Restrictions: Total ban
Advertising Restrictions: Total ban
Sponsorship/Promotional Restrictions: Total ban
Patterns of Drinking Score: 3
Prohibition: Sudan has banned all alcohol consumption and extends serious penalties to offenders pursuant to President Omar al-Bashir’s policy of enacting Shari`a as national law. Despite this, there exists a thriving trade in date brandy (called araqi in Sudanese Arabic) and other native alcoholic beverages; a black market in imported beverages, such as whisky, also thrives in the cities.
A couple of days ago, I posted a video from Palestine’s only brewery, Taybeh Beer, founded in 1993 by Nadim Khoury, who learned to homebrew while living in Boston. I admit that I wondered how the beer tastes, so I was delighted to hear from fellow beer blogger David Turley, who writes Musings Over A Pint. Turley had an opportunity to try the beer during a trip with his family to Jerusalem last August. He recently posted his impressions of the beer and stories from his pilgrimage in Taybeh, A Beer Without A Country. Give it a read, it definitely helps round out the story. Thanks for your insights David.
A postcard from Taybeh (courtesy of David Turley).
Palestine has exactly one brewery, Taybeh Beer, founded in 1993 by Nadim Khoury, who learned to homebrew while living in Boston. He returned to his native Palestine after the “Oslo peace accords between Israel and the Palestinians in 1993, one of the approximately 12,000 Palestinian families who returned to the region to help kickstart the emerging Palestinian economy.” Since then business has grown, and is beer is imported to Germany and the UK, and they’re working on the U.S., but according to the video so far we won’t allow them to import because we don’t recognize Palestine as a separate nation. So much for supporting peace in the Middle East. At any rate, the video below gives a nice overview of the brewery.
For reasons passing understanding, apart from anti-alcohol propaganda, beer is forbidden from advertising its many recognized health benefits. For people against alcohol, saying beer is good for you, or at least isn’t bad for you (in moderation), is apparently the same as saying “drink up.” And for goodness sake, we’d never want to tell people [...]
The theory that it was beer that caused early man to make the transition from hunter/gatherers to farmers instead of bread, thus starting civilization itself, has been gathering steam since it was first proposed by anthropologists in the 1950s. The latest support comes from archaeologist Brian Hayden at Simon Fraser University in Canada, who will [...]
Biblical Archeology Review has an interesting article in their September/October issue entitled Did the Ancient Israelites Drink Beer?. The author makes some of the same points I’ve often made — but with more authority — that because of mistranslations and bias, beer is mostly absent from the Bible despite the fact that it’s everywhere else [...]
Since we’ve been in the Middle East and Afghanistan, we’ve struggled with how to keep our soldiers happy and yet respect local laws and customs. In March of 2006, General Abizaid of the U.S. Central Command, signed General Order No. 1 to help clarify and determine how our men and women fighting overseas are permitted [...]
There’s a wonderful article today in Germany’s Der Speigel showcasing University of Pennsylvania Archaeologist Patrick McGovern’s theory that alcohol is responsible for nothing short of civilization itself. Titled Alcohol’s Neolithic Origins: Brewing Up a Civilization, the story begins: Did our Neolithic ancestors turn to agriculture so that they could be sure of a tipple? US [...]
Palestine’s only brewery, Taybeh Brewery is located in the West Bank town of Ramallah, about 20 miles from Jerusalem. It was started by Nadim Khoury, who became a homebrewer when he lived for a time in Boston, Mass. The British newspaper the Guardian just published an interesting article, Brewed in the West Bank, Drunk in [...]
I was one of 42 beer writers who contributed to this big 960-page book telling the stories of 1,001 world-famous beers. The book is now available at Amazon.com and other fine booksellers.
