15 Aug 2013 Sin-free ale: taking off in Muslim world
In the rich world it is mainly consumed by a health-conscious minority. But in the Middle East, which now accounts for almost a third of worldwide sales, the target market is the teetotal majority. In 2012 Iranians quaffed nearly four times as much as in 2007. Consumers in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates also have a growing taste for it (though across the region, alcoholic beer still outsells it).
Delster, brewed by an Iranian company, Behnoush, turned alcohol-free in the wake of the 1979 Islamic revolution. After Hamas, an Islamist movement, won a landslide election victory in Gaza in 2005, a Palestinian brewer, Taybeh, launched an alcohol-free “Halal”version of its ale. Its label is green, the colour of Islam.
More recent sales growth is the result of growing consumer aspirations, says Maii Abdul-Rahmen, a Dubai-based analyst for Euromonitor, a research firm.
Drinking beer, even the non-alcoholic variety, taps into a popular desire for a globalised lifestyle that neither fruit juice nor even Coca-Cola can offer, argues Guilda Saber, the brand manager of Laziza, a Lebanese non-alcoholic beer. This glamorous image is helping brewers to increase their sales in bars and restaurants of a product that has so far mainly been consumed at home.
There are still some sizeable independent brewers in the region, such as Behnoush, and Aujan of Saudi Arabia, which has recently jazzed up the packaging of its popular Barbican beer. Others are owned by global giants: Heineken gained the Birell and Fayrouz brands of non-alcoholic beer when it bought Egypt’s Al-Ahram Beverages, which also produces the alcoholic variety.
Likewise, when Carlsberg bought Feldschlössen, a Swiss brewer, it took on Moussy, a no-alcohol brand that is popular in the Middle East…..