Laziza - لذيذة شراب الشعير بنكهة الطبيعية
280 mL bottle |
History Laziza means "delicious" or "delightful" in Arabic. Despite the prohibition against alcohol in many countries in the Middle East, beer has long been popular in Lebanon as a holiday or beach drink. Mr. George Gellad started Laziza in 1931, the first brewery in the Middle East. The lager beer became the most popular in Lebanon, until the brewery was damaged during the civil war and ceased production in 1990. In 1999, Georges Khazam, grandson of the company's founder, began selling Laziza beer again, as well as this non-alcoholic version. Both drinks were bottled by Bavaria in The Netherlands. After a bitter pricing battle with Almaza brewery in the early 2000s, Lazia was bought out by Almaza and Dutch multi-national Heineken in 2003, which discontinued the company's beer sales. The non-alcoholic Laziza is now exported throughout the Middle East, where non-alcoholic malt brews are a growing market. Unlike other non-alcoholic malt beverages, Laziza is not made by removing the alcohol from a fermented beverage. Instead the malted barley and hops are simply used as flavoring and sweetener. Review I don't know if this should even be considered a soft drink. Its really just a non-alcoholic beer, but it was for sale with all the other sodas at a local Lebanese market. Considered as a soft drink its really not bad. It has a distinct beer aroma, but the taste is light and effervescent, not strong at all. Its almost like a mineral water with the aftertaste of toasted malt and hops. It really doesn't have much taste beyond that.
Ingredients Water, malted barley, maize, hops. Made by Brasserie Almaza s.a.l. |
