By Alexander Liddington-Cox “It really frustrates me when I go somewhere and they don’t have our beer.” Omar Bekdache is chief executive of 961 Beer, which takes its name from Lebanon’s international dialling code. 961 has secured itself a place in multiple export markets across the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. But right now Bekdache’s attention is on Lebanon. “My plan is to focus on the Lebanese market big time,” he tells Lebanese Streets excitedly at the company’s factory in Mazraat Yachouh, an industrial area northeast of Beirut. “That is my plan for the next year. We’ve been around almost nine years and I think the past year had a big change in beer culture.” He’s right. Last year, 961 was joined by Colonel, a microbrewery based in the coastal town of Batroun. A Lebanese-German man who brews Schtrunz secured a site in Ghazir with plans to gradually increase production from a base of around 300 litres per week. And the Kassalty food and beverages company in the Bekaa moved in with Beirut Beer. Heineken, which has enjoyed a monopoly over the Lebanese beer market after purchasing Almaza…
961 Brewery Seeks Stronger Connection With Beer’s “Spiritual Home”
October 13, 2015
