UK toasts Palestinian beer

Brewers in Arms: Collaboration Helps Larger Avoid Israeli Checkpoints

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Palestinian beer managed to find its way to British store shelves this week from the Israeli-occupied West Bank, despite border checks, a distance of some 4,000km and a raging war in the region.

How it got there is a story of an unlikely bond between brewers in arms.

"My grandfather used to say, if you can make it succeed and happen in Palestine, you can succeed anywhere else in the world," said Madees Khoury, brewmaster at Taybeh Brewing Co and daughter and niece of the founders.

The narrative of Taybeh Brewing Co is one of repeatedly defying the odds.

The company produces and sells a microbrew among a predominantly Muslim population that shuns alcohol for religious reasons. Then throw decades of conflict, water shortages and incursions by Israeli settlers and it's a small miracle any beer is still flowing from the Christian village.