The following announcement sent to me from a Middle East studies list I
subscribe to may be of interest to some ATHG members:
Barney Rickenbacker

>   CAIRO, Oct 29 (AFP) - Drinking is back in fashion in Egypt and two
>private companies are expanding their range of quality beers, wines and
>spirits to satisfy an ever thirstier public.
>   Al-Ahram Beverages Co. (ABC), privatised last year, and the rival
>El-Gouna Beverage Co. have been capitalising on the alcohol revival by
>turning their attention to producing premium-quality potables.
>   Together they are out to "restore a heritage" of wine- and beer-making
>launched by their pharaonic ancestors more than 5,000 years ago, said ABC
>spokesman Steven Keefer, whose company controls 80 percent of the beer
>market.
>   "We want to make a first class product in Egypt -- whiskey, gin, vodka,
>ouzo and brandy -- with foreign expertise. There is demand for these
>products and we believe that the market will grow," an El-Gouna marketing
>official said.
>   Egypt's alcohol industry is growing again after some lean years in the
>last two decades, when the rise of Islamic conservatism sparked waves of
>attacks against liquor stores and trucks transporting alcohol.
>   "From the mid-70s to the early 90s, Egypt was dry amid a rise in Moslem
>fundamentalism," one industry official said. "But now people want to drink,
>and they want quality."
>   ABC and El-Gouna, which dominate the Egyptian market, are delivering
>that quality by signing production deals with major foreign brands as well
>as buying up and revamping derelict state-owned companies.
>   El-Gouna paid eight million dollars in September for a state-run
>distillery, while ABC was awarded the exclusive contract to run Egypt's
>state-owned Gianaclis vineyards.
>   In addition to making wine with quality Italian grapes, El-Gouna is
>brewing beer in association with Germany's Lowenbrau, an industry giant.
>   "We expect to produce 60,000 hectoliters (six million liters) of beer
>and one million bottles of wine during the first year," an El-Gouna
>official said.
>   ABC meanwhile inked a deal with Ireland's Guinness to distribute its
>famous creamy stout and signed up Danish conglomerate Carlsberg to help it
>revamp Egypt's legendary Stella brand beer.
>   Consumers have noticed the improvement, as sales of Stella were up 15
>percent for the fiscal year ending in June and ABC saw profits soar 25
>percent to roughly 20 million dollars. That growth has been fuelled in part
>by intensive advertising campaigns to keep the alcohol revival going.
>   Though the Arabic-language media remain wary of alcohol advertising, ABC
>has been placing glossy ads in Egypt's English-language press to attract
>the buying power of expatriates and students from the American University
>in Cairo.
>   The firm has also realised that a key to surging sales is product
>avilability. The number of outlets selling Stella has shot from 2,000 to
>30,000 in just one year.
>   ABC has even established home delivery centres in the greater Cairo area.
>   "Up until now it was very hard to buy beer" in Egypt, said ABC spokesman
>Keefer. "Now it's only a phone call away."
>
>
>
>