PAKISTAN: DISTILLERY CREATES ANOTHER PRODUCT

Muslim distillery to unveil new product
SLOBODAN LEKIC
Associated Press

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan - The dusty, traffic-choked streets of this sprawling Pakistani metropolis are a world away from the crisp mountain streams and heather-covered glens normally associated with single-malt whiskeys.

But it's here in dusty Rawalpindi that the only malt whiskey distillery in the Muslim world is preparing to launch its newest product - a 21-year single malt that it claims will rival the best Scotch whisky.

"Very few distilleries anywhere in the world, even the high-end ones in Scotland, produce ... 21-year old malts," said M.P. Bhandara, chief executive of the Murree Brewing Company, announcing the launch of the new product, which goes on sale in January.

The new spirit, Murree's Millennium Reserve, will only be available to a small clientele of expatriates and non-Muslims in a land where prohibition has been enforced for 30 years. The distillery's product lines - including 8- and 12-year-old single malts - cannot be sampled abroad because Islamabad bans the export of alcoholic beverages.

There are only three licensed producers of alcoholic drinks in Pakistan: the Murree Brewery, and distilleries in the cities of Quetta and Karachi.

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