Contraband

On one of my first evenings in Jeddah Birgit pulled out a bottle of wine. What an occasion. She had received it as a present from a German expat on the compound.
One night we were invited over to another expat. When we entered the house I could not believe my eyes. He had a bar set up, with a wall of liquors, whiskey, a beer tab, wine on display. As one cannot legally buy alcohol in Saudi, he is distilling the alcohol and making all these drinks himself. Brewing beer, making wine. When the panda shops in this area are receiving grape juice, a lot of expats buy up all the juice and make wine out of it. Our friend brought the beer tabs from England. In his hand luggage and built the bar himself.Read more