Matt Hawkins, ex-colleague from American University of Kurdistan, was massively into craft beer making when I knew him in Duhok. It was prohibitively expensive for him to carry on with his hobby there, but given we were paid well and there was little else to do, I couldn't really blame him. The man knew his beer. His favorite getaway was Beirut (along with several other colleagues). When it finally came my turn to pay Lebanon a visit, he said "You MUST visit Brew Inc".
As it turns out, I was in Beirut with Duhok bestie WMF and he was a bartender. I told him ad nauseum that he had never really drunk beer until he had tasted it fresh. I remembered Matt's recommendation and we set off to find the place. We arrived in the late afternoon after a long walk only to discover it would open later in the evening. Since it had not been easy to find, we noted the location on the map and agreed to return. I was on a mission - W had to taste good beer at least once in his life.
We returned later that evening and both tasted a few beers. We were early and had the place to ourselves. Of course, W loved the beer. I saw the gears turning in his head about how to make it work in Iraq. I was with him 100% - all he needed was an investor, but I doubted anyone would take the risk. Kurds loved their alcohol, but they also loved it cheap. For them, beer meant "Efes" from Turkey (or even worse Farida from Iraq) and they were quite satisfied with those sub-prime brews. Anyway, W and I quaffed some good craft beer and he finally understood what I was going on and on about for the couple of years we were oft-meeting friends in Duhok. It is a great memory with a dear friend.
Brew Inc was great - like many places in Beirut, it was a total surprise. I never expected a craft beer pub to exist there - let alone to be done so well. It reminded me of stumbling across "Paul", the French bistro chain, down the street from our hotel and realizing it was the "real thing". After all, Beirut's connection to France was longstanding - the menu was only in French, too! Vive les bonnes surprises dans la vie - craft beer in Beirut, who would have imagined that?
Brew Inc. June 2019
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