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There was a time when "Carew’s Products and Murree Beer” featured on the menu card of the Indian Railways. According to page vii of an undated menu card shared with Parsiana by Isphanyar Bhandara, chief executive officer of Murree Brewery (MB), alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks were sold per quart, glass, bottle, peg or half peg, depending on the product and its country of origin. The most highly priced item was the South African Witzenberg white wine priced at nine rupees and eight annas per quart. The lowest priced was a bottle of soda water that was sold for two annas and six paisa.
Beer though showed only "Indian made Gold ribbon lager” that was sold at the provincial rates of one rupee and 15 annas per quart in Bihar and one rupee and 12 annas per quart in Uttar Pradesh. The same page of the menu card also announced that "Tea” which included "bread and butter with either jam, marmalade, golden syrup or one egg and one cup of tea” was available for seven annas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When Parsiana sought more details from Bhandara he mentioned that the image of the menu card recently shared by a friend was his only proof of Murree Brewery’s connections with the Indian Railways. He reiterated that "Murree Brewery was one of the first few breweries circa 1860. (It) had branches/breweries in northern Indian and present day Pakistan and Sri Lanka.”
In an earlier interview with Parsiana (see "Murree and minority matters,” Zoroastrians Abroad, July 21, 2015), Bhandara had stated, "Our famous Murree beers can be compared with any European lager and we are using mostly German and English machines and imported raw materials.” Their website shows a dozen varieties of their beer sold in bottles and cans including: Millennium; Classic; Amber Ale; Wheat; Special Strong; Light; Stout. Besides being the only brewery in Pakistan, MB enjoys the distinction of being "the oldest continuing industrial enterprise of Pakistan…and one of the oldest public companies of the sub-continent whose shares were traded on the Calcutta Stock Exchange as early as 1902.”
MB was established by the British in 1860 and incorporated a year later at Ghora Galli in the Pir Punjal range of the Western Himalayas at an elevation of 6,000 ft above sea level. Located near the resort town of Murree, where the climate was suitable for fermentation and beer storage, the presence of sizable army troops ensured a steady demand. Between 1885 and 1890 the company established breweries in Rawalpindi and Quetta, and acquired an interest in the Oticumand (South India) and Norailiya (Ceylon) breweries. The Bhandara family’s association with MB commenced at the time of Partition when Isphanyar’s grandparents, Peshotan and Tehmina Bhandara, bought it from a Hindu family, Kilparam, and an English family, Duncan. Isphanyar continues to dream of finding a joint venture partner in India who would be willing to brew and sell Murree Beer, so that they can say "‘cheers’ over a glass of beer which is half Pakistani and half Indian.”