Just In Time For St. Pat's: Hamas Beer Goes Green

Palestinian "Taybeh" brewery is getting into the non-alcoholic beer market with a new "Hamas" brand, featuring a distinctive green label. Taybeh currently comes in "Golden," dark, and light varieties (all alcoholic), and has been prohibited in Gaza since the beginning of the al-Aqsa intifada, but brewer Nadim Khoury, an American-raised (and judging by his name, Christian) resident of the sweet and delicious village of Taybeh near Ramallah, is hoping the new leaders of the Palestinian entity have absorbed Frank Zappa's model of nation-building:

Currently, some 1.2 million pints of [alcoholic] 'Taybeh' beer are sold yearly, though prior to the 2000 Intifada against the Israeli occupation, sales were more than twice that much.

Moreover, for the past several years, Taybeh has not been sold in the Gaza Strip, as one of his distribution outlets was torched by those offended by Taybeh's sales there.

However, says Khoury, he believes that since all Palestinians are interested in a unified goal, Hamas leaders will recognize the positive side of the success of his brewery.

Which is as good a time as any to note that my favorite beer slogan of all time is an old one for Lebanon's Almaza:

"One People, One Beer"