Beer in Morocco
In keeping up with our tradition of reviewing the beers around the countries we’ve visited, I am reluctantly posting this review of beer around Morocco. I say “reluctantly” because Morocco has been the worst of the 25 countries we’ve visited so far this year, but this is completely understandable. You must understand that Morocco is an Islamic country in which it is against the religion to consume alcohol, hence beer is not so popular here. Yet while the religion strictly forbids it, the nation of Morocco is not as strict about alcohol as other Islamic states. Instead, it allows the sale of alcohol to non-Muslims and places a high tax on it.
Beer Places Around Morocco
Usually you can locate beer in larger cities throughout the country. Most of the coastal towns seem to have bars and cafes serving beer and wine too. Sometimes it’s not listed on the menu but you can discretely ask for it. Most tourist hotels will also often have beer on offer. Some larger cities may have a sectioned-off part of a convenience store selling beer and liquor.
Pubs to get beer in are far and few between. We simply peaked our heads into a few local’s joints out of curiosity and they were very seedy affairs strictly for men only. Meknes seemed to have the greatest abundance of pubs throughout the dozen Moroccan cities we visited. But I wouldn’t recommend non-Moroccan visitors to visit any, particularly since they all carry the same subpar local swill and perhaps some Moroccan-brewed Heineken too.
Beer is almost always served in bottles. Draft beer on tap is rare, as I only noticed it at a resort in Marrakech.
Beers Around Morocco
The beer found in Morocco is produced by Brasseries du Morocco, which is owned by the Castel Group who hold an assortment of other African breweries in its portfolio.
In our opinion, the best beer you can find in Morocco is Casablanca Lager (Pale Lager, 5%). Throughout our journey in Central America, most of the macro-produced beers labeled as “premium” tended to be anything but. So I was reluctant to pay the premium for Casablanca beer. But it was actually okay. While it is still just another relatively bland adjunct lager, for me, it was distinctively better than the others. The beer starts off with a nice sweetness to it and leaves with some noticeable malt flavor. It has a slight lemony taste and a bit of spiciness but you really have to search for those flavors. Casablanca Lager is perhaps a little more difficult to find and you will pay more for it than the other beers in Morocco. (Side note: if you’ve ever been “drinking around the world” at Epcot, this is the beer that is served in the Morocco pavilion.) While I don’t really consider any of the beers to be worth their cost in the country, I would probably shell out the extra for this instead of being subjected to the alternatives.
The handful of other beers available in Morocco isn’t worth much mention.
Most common are Stork Premiere (Pale Lager, 4.7%) and Flag Speciale (Pale Lager 5.2%). The Stork reminded me of a subpar Heineken while the Flag Speciale reminded me a little bit of a watery Coors. Neither beers were awful but they didn’t really leave me wanting more. There is also a regular Flag Pils (as opposed to the Flag ‘Speciale’) and a Castel Beer, but we never came across either of them during our month long stint in the country.
Craft Beers Around Morocco
Don’t come to Morocco looking for craft beer or else you may end up aimlessly wandering around the Sahara for years. Perhaps one day, but for now (2014), you won’t find anything that comes close to craft beer. You will not find any bars that import anything interesting and you certainly won’t see any local brewpubs or microbreweries. I’d imagine there must be much red tape to open up such a venture in Morocco, not to mention lack of demand other than tourists and expats. (Note: With the rapid growth of craft beer around the world, if there is a truly notable place that opens somewhere in Morocco, please leave a comment and I will edit this article.)
BYOB to Morocco
If you absolutely must satiate a craft beer craving, then your best bet is to possibly bring a bottle with you. You are legally permitted to transport one liter of alcohol per person into Morocco. Beer, wine, and liquor are not distinguished from one another in this law, so that means you can only bring in a liter of beer. So choose wisely!
Cost of Beers in Morocco
Alcohol is Morocco is taxed heavily, so you will incur higher than average prices for lower than average quality beer. You can find the lower-end beers elusively at pubs or cafes for about dh20-25 (~$2.5US). In Marrakech you’ll likely pay closer to dh40. At clubs or hotel bars it will be significantly higher, perhaps close to dh60 (~$7US).
Also keep in mind that these are 330ml bottles, which are noticeably smaller than the standard 355ml bottles you’re likely accustomed to. That’s about 10% less! The thought of paying $7 for one of these small and dissatisfying Flag or Stork beers, just makes me cringe.
If its Casablanca you’re after, you can nearly double most of the prices I listed above. I saw it listed in a bar in Marrakech for dh100 (~$11.50). If you can find a shop selling beers, the prices are more reasonable, so that may be your best bet. But the refrigeration in these stores don’t run very cold so just expect a beer that’s only bit cooler than the sweltering desert heat.
Final Thoughts on Beer in Morocco
Just don’t. Morocco has tons of awesomeness to offer but beer is not one of them. Follow the locals and sip on some delicious mint tea instead. To say that beer in Morocco is mediocre at its best, is being extremely generous. Combine that with the fact that its very overpriced and you have quite a low price-to-value ratio. It’s simply not worth the cost, in this drinker’s opinion. Save your beer money and instead enjoy an amazing desert camel trek, splurge on a delicious Moroccan feast, or pick up a few extra souvenirs in the markets. Save the beer consumption for visiting other more beer friendly countries to the North. But if you’re like me and must try the beers when visiting different countries, go ahead, but just don’t say I didn’t warn you 😉
Where to begin! Beer availability. It’s everywhere in Morocco. A quick check of trip advisor will reveal a number of really great options. As for Marrakesh: any hotel bar is a place to start along with plenty of upscale cafés. In Gueliz(the new city) 16 Café & O’Mulligan’s are conveniently located reasonably priced. Remember, it’s a hot country so lagers are predominate. Like Mexico, those lagers have as part of their flavor profile that recognizable light struck skunked flavor like a Corona or a Heini might have. As they are lagers and not highly hopped that funk is providing the bitter flavor component AND is Part Of The Flavor profile of that style and should be recognized as such. If that’s not your bag then by all means stick with the mint tea. Need more of the residual maltiness in your lager? Go with the Casablanca. For thirst quenching, Flag Special. As a frequent visitor to Morocco and a home brewing Vermonter I consider myself a beer snob but when push comes to shove after a hot day in the Medina nothing tastes better than crispy Flag to satisfy. O’Mulligan’s has three beers on tap and you can buy beer to take away. 115 Dirhams for a 5 pack as of November 2019. Check it out.
If you are in Rabat and feel the need for a decent beer or wine then there is a small supermarket called Les Grandes Caves about 10 minutes walk from the medina. It’s quite upmarket and seems to cater for expats. They have a great selection of wines and a very reasonable selection of beers, including some Belgians.
In larger cities like Marrakech and Casablanca, you easily search hotel bars which sell alcohol but these places are characteristically fairly luxurious from what I found. If you aren’t staying at a hotel, you maybe don’t want to fill that much. Superstores still do sell alcohol: in Marrakech, the ‘Asima’ supermarket in Bab Doukkala does trade alcohol
I was googling to find craft beer in Casablanca and your blog came across. I won’t say I’m disappointed cause I was already expecting. But as we say in Brasil, “hope is the last to die” (free translation).
I’m a big fan of craft beers specially IPA and APA. The bitter the better. Nowadays it’s easy to find small breweries almost everywhere. But you are right. I will enjoy the Moroccan tea for the moment and keep the beer for next trip. Cheers!
Yeah, we agree – we love a good IPA or APA! Unfortunately, not in Morocco though! 🙁 Maybe one day though. As craft beer continues to boom all around the world, a maybe just a matter of time. Until then, enjoy the mint tea! 😉
Yes craft beer is non existent here. However if you want to drink something made local Morocco does have very decent wines. Many good ones come from the Meknes area. Keep in mind it’s a Mediterranean country so beer is just not engrained in the culture…
Yes, we tried some of the wines which we found to be interesting given the location. Thanks for adding that suggestion. Yup, of course we understand that beer is most certainly not engrained in the culture in Morocco, yet we still like to explore the beer scene wherever we travel even if there is a lack of it. Cheers!
I agree the beer in Morocco is certainly below average and the wine is worth a try!
Thanks for the cost of beer in Morocoo. some times many shopkeeper take more then that.
Yup, sometimes its difficult to judge the proper price of things down there. So glad this helped to have a pulse on beer prices in Morocco. Cheers!
I’m a Moroccan, I came here because I was looking for the best beer I can find in Morocco, I only consumed Casablanca (I’m an atheist so no problem for me) … a friend of mine told me that it’s the best here (though we don’t have the best of the world).
I’m just looking for beer that don’t leave you with a breathing smell, because I live with my parents, and they are religious.
Thank you
If you’re looking for the best beer in Morocco, Casablanca is it (in our opinion). If you don’t want alcohol to be detected on your breath, maybe just pop a few mints in your mouth before returning home. Or try vodka which has less of an odor.
Well, what I usually do, is waiting for 1 hour (after consuming Casablanca) , before going home. I’ll do on your advice…
I never tried vodka, I’ll try it one day.
Thank you bro
Another Moroccan atheist here. I totally agree that Casablanca is the best beer we have, though it pales in comparison to beers in other countries. I usually have some potato chips after drinking if I want to conceal the smell.