Abu Dhabi’s first brewery taps demand for beer under emirate’s relaxed alcohol laws, but blazing the trail wasn’t easy
- Side Hustle has brewed up a storm in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, since it changed its laws to allow alcohol production to draw tourists like Dubai
- With no road map, getting going was hard. Now the brewery has 14 craft beers on tap and aims to produce 100 to cater to the emirate’s diverse population
In 2018, Chad McGehee opened Side Hustle Brews and Spirits, an Abu Dhabi-branded brewery and distillery with funky camels on its cans and playful names familiar to anyone living in the United Arab Emirates.
The only problem was that it was illegal to produce alcohol in the country, so his company made its hoppy India pale ale in the United States and then imported it to the UAE for sale.
“The government had created a regulation around fermentation, but the steps of getting a permit, the steps of inspection, all of these things were not put on paper yet. So that had to be built out as we were going through this process,” McGehee says at his brew pub on Abu Dhabi’s Al Maryah Island.
Among the seven emirates of the UAE, Sharjah outright bans the sale and consumption of alcohol, like neighbouring Saudi Arabia, as well as Iran and Kuwait.
Eliminating the licences allowed Muslims to drink, and decriminalised alcohol possession for those without a licence.
“I think progression in this country is par for the course. They’re always moving things forward,” says Nadim Selbak, one of the partners at Craft, which is Side Hustle’s brew pub.
The UAE still maintains a strict no-tolerance policy on public intoxication and Islam considers alcohol consumption as haram, or forbidden.
The idea for me was like going back in time, when I started almost 20 years ago
Despite that demand, there was no local equipment available to open a brewery in the UAE. McGehee ended up importing almost everything for the brewery, nearly all of it coming from the United States.
Abu Dhabi represents a completely untapped market for Side Hustle.
“The idea for me was like going back in time, when I started almost 20 years ago,” says Mitchell Dougherty, Side Hustle’s master brewer.
At any given point, Craft has 14 beers on tap. This year it has brewed 34 and aims to reach up to 100 by the end of 2024. Some of its beers use locally roasted coffee and fruit, while one, called Sandstorm, was brewed specifically to match the colour of the desert.
McGehee says his beers include ingredients from the Czech Republic, Britain, Japan and the United States, covering a variety of palates for the brewery’s international customers.
“If you look at Abu Dhabi, you have people from almost 200 countries,” he says. “They all have their own definition of what beer is, what craft beer is, or what lager is, or what IPA is, so we’re trying to cater to as many of them as possible.”
