The sign outside is for a burger joint. The arrow points to the reception of a tourist-class hotel, which is far from being among the most luxurious in Doha. Anyone who enters is greeted with the question at the entrance:
“Are you going to the bar?”.
On the second floor, what catches the eye is an article that is rare in Qatar. The sequence of six beer coolers, one next to the other.
“We have several types of beer. Just choose”, warns the waiter.
The pursuit of alcohol in the nation’s capital can be so thankless that tourists have created a “beer map” and distributed it on social media in the weeks leading up to the start of the World Cup. The tournament starts on Sunday (20), when the home team faces Ecuador, at the Al Bayt stadium, in Al Khor.
The contract for the right to sell beers in stadiums is an important part of the World Cup’s millions. This in Qatar is a problem. Trading alcohol is not a crime, but being found drunk on the street is. In an Islamic country like this, the government does its best to make consumption difficult. Drinks can be found in a few bars, almost always inside hotels.
The Stock Burger Co, on the second floor of the Holiday Inn’s business center near the airport, is one such business.
The release of beer was a central issue in the question of how Qatar would host the World Cup. Budweiser paid US$ 75 million (R$ 405 million in current values) to be an official sponsor of the event and to have its products sold in arenas and “fan fests”.
The American company will encounter restrictions in Qatar, and the price will be steep for fans. According to The New York Times, Budweiser was ordered to position its stadium tents in less visible locations. The determination would have come from Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, brother of the emir of the country.
Each beer will be sold in stadiums and at official FIFA events for 50 Qatari rials. It costs R$74. Non-alcoholic drinks will cost 30 Qatari rials (R$44.50).
It is the same price charged in the exclusive bars of hotels in the capital. The values ​​are similar in different establishments. Budweiser costs the same 50 rials as in Qatar. The glass with 500 ml of Irish Guinness is sold for 55 Qatari rials (R$ 81.60).
At almost every table at Stock Burger there are beers on the tables because the chance to drink has to be taken. Alcohol is a difficult commodity to come by for two main reasons.
According to the Expensivity website, which calculates the value of beers in different nations, Qatar is the most expensive in the world. The government applies a 100% tax on product imports. The measure was dubbed the “sin tax”.
It is also very difficult to obtain authorization to sell it, and distribution is state-owned. To receive the license, it is necessary to have Qatari citizenship and fulfill a long series of requirements that include the financial capacity to keep the business running and a commitment not to allow customers to take to the streets with drinks in their hands.
The only distribution point in the country is controlled by the Qatar Distribution Company (QDC), a state-owned company that concentrates all the alcohol imported into the country (which does not produce anything).
Fifa’s only victory in this dispute was to make the beer available almost all day long at “fan fests”. At the Arcadia Festival, for example, it will be offered from 10 am until 5 am the following morning.
But even in these cases, Qatar imposed restrictions. Only four beers can be ordered at a time, in an attempt to curb consumption.
Anyone who gets drunk will have specific zones to recover and not go out on the streets. “It’s a place to make sure these people don’t get hurt or hurt others,” World Cup Chief Executive Nasser Al Khater told ESPN USA.
Because of the cost to import and the selling price, drinking beer is not for everyone in Qatar. Especially for immigrants from poor countries, who work in infrastructure works and in the service sector, it is prohibitive. Part of the labor involved in the construction of the World Cup stadiums, for example, received US$ 200 per month (R$ 1,080 at the current exchange rate). That would be enough money to buy 14 Budweisers.
That doesn’t seem to be a problem at beer bars, frequented by tourists, Qataris (the country’s economic elite) and residents employed in the tourism, energy and oil or gas industries.
At bars like The Mulberry Tavern, there is even a requirement that male patrons wear a suit.
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