Flooding, electricity, garbage, poverty, crime.
These might seem like top priorities for a government.
But there is another vice gripping the nation in its deadly clutches.
Businesses selling draft beer without the proper license. You read that right.
Your draught days are numbered Myanmar!
Authorities are cracking down on this “problem,” according to a hilarious story in the Myanmar Times, which bothered to explain that draft beer is “almost always the preferred choice for consumers, as it is better value and perceived as fresher than packaged beer.”
Which is another way of saying that it just tastes good.
Technically, the crackdown is aimed at businesses who don’t have their papers in order.
According to the Times, roughly 7,000 bars and restaurants sell draft beer but only some 2,500 have the proper license.
The story did not explain why businesses are required to have different licenses to sell different types of the same beer. License grades are usually broken down between beer and spirits, not bottle and tap.
Just as confused as the rest of us, Anthony Clark, managing director of Myanmar Carlsberg, told the Times that “it is unclear what the benefit is to the government or consumers, to have ‘pump-beer’ outlets licensed separately from ‘non-pump beer’ outlets.”
“This is potentially disastrous for bars and restaurants that hold FL17 licences [the incorrect one] as not only will they lose profit on any beer they sell, but they will also lose consumers, who will [go to] outlets that are allowed to sell draught. It is also bad news for consumers as they won’t necessarily be able to enjoy pump beer in their preferred restaurant.”
So, in short, you may be seeing fewer places selling draft beer in the future, because, and this is the best part, it’s absolutely perfect, you won’t believe it: the government won’t be issuing any more of the required licenses.
The guideline is actually not that new, according to an official with the Ministry of Home Affairs, who informed the Times that “pump beer is a separate item [from bottled or canned beer].”
To his credit, the official, Hla Win Tin, had some really comforting words for the businesses and people that will be economically impacted by the enforcement: “People face difficulties when policies change, it is quite normal.”
While the paper did not explicitly say so, there is something a little funny about the regulations.
The Ministry of Home Affairs is controlled by the military, and the military’s business arm, Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited, owns a 45 percent stake in the brewery that makes Myanmar beer.
Myanmar beer dominates the market, but foreign beer makers Carlsberg and Heineken both opened breweries last year, and are making inroads with their own brand name beverages and local brews made specifically for the local market.
These brews, Yoma (Carlsberg) and Regal Seven (Heineken), are very popular in draft beer form.
Curtailing sales at beer stations and not offering new licenses will obviously have an impact on these companies.
However, Myanmar beer itself will be affected by the measures, as it is popular in draft beer form too.
So yeah, not really seeing the point on this one.
