E-Malt.com News article: Turkey: Beer presses traditional Turkish raki from Istanbul bars

Raki, the aniseed-flavoured aperitif central to Turkish culture, has been displaced by beer as the favourite drink, The Guardian reported on February, 6.

Bar owners in Istanbul that once finished off 100 crates of raki a day, have seen sales plummet by 30% in a year as customers order cheaper alternatives. Tough economic conditions have combined with a private consumption tax to price raki increasingly out of the market, traders say.

At the same time there has been a 40% jump in beer sales, mostly benefiting the popular local brewer Efes. Half a litre of Efes sells for 80p in some supermarkets, while the same amount of raki costs 10 times as much.

"People have turned to lower-priced alcoholic beverages," Tulay Ece Guneysu, president of the Nevizade artisans' association, said.

"Today the consumption of raki has dropped to 80 crates per day. The consumption of beer is at about 10 50-litre barrels a day on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays."

Some traders believe raki and other drinks such as wine have been victims of high taxes imposed by Recep Tayyip Erdogan's socially conservative Justice and Development party (AKP) government in an attempt to curb alcohol consumption and promote Islamic values in the overwhelmingly Muslim but officially secular country. The government has denied such accusations.


06 February, 2009