New Lebanese brew

byHabib Battah
Jun 22, 2014

A new microbrewery has opened in Batroun, a picturesque small town on the Lebanese coast. Even more cool is that the brewery building is built of recycled material: walls made of recycled wood crates and melted down plastic turned into wall panels– the equivalent of 2 million plastic bags. It is a technology pioneered by the local firm Cedar Environmental, headed by Lebanese engineer Ziad Abichaker. Plus tables made of old telephone wire spools, grass planted with organic recycled fertilizer. The launch party is just getting started, here are some pics. Stay tuned for my upcoming piece in Jazeera Airways inflight magazine about Ziad’s inspiring work.

The new beer is called Colonel. A restaurant is also set to open in the space.

Habib Battah

Habib Battah is an investigative journalist and founder of the news site beirutreport.com. Battah has covered Lebanon and the Middle East for over 15 years and teaches journalism and media studies at the American University of Beirut. He is a contributor to Monocle, The Guardian, BBC World, Al Jazeera and others, a former fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University and two-time recipient of the Samir Kassir Press Freedom Award. Battah's investigative work was recently recognized for outstanding local reporting by the Columbia University Oakes Award for Environmental Reporting. Battah earned a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.A. in Near East Studies and Journalism from New York University.