Between Erdo\u011fan\u2019s rise to power in 2003 and January this year, the price of beer has increased by 618 percent, according to data<\/a> from the Turkish Statistics Institute TUIK.<\/p>\n The price of rak\u0131, an aniseed-flavored spirit popular in Turkey, increased by 725 percent. (To compare, the price of fruit juice rose by 121 percent in the same period.)<\/p>\n Turkey is not a nation of boozers: More than 80 percent of citizens say they do not touch alcohol. But for those who do drink, the frequent tax hikes \u2014 the most recent came last month \u2014 have turned alcohol into a luxury product.<\/p>\n Homemade beers, wines and spirits are far cheaper to produce, however, and Turks have caught on. While alcohol sales have declined over the past few years, online forums and social media groups dedicated to home brewing and distilling have ballooned in size.<\/p>\n To Kerem, this comes as no surprise: \u201cYou can make a very nice bottle of beer for about one quarter of the normal price,\u201d he said, adding that starter kits for brewing can be bought online for less than 200 lira (\u20ac43).<\/p>\n On a recent Saturday afternoon, it was time to bottle Kerem\u2019s latest batch, a Wei\u00dfbier<\/em>-style wheat beer he had made for a friend\u2019s wedding.<\/p>\n Like many home-brewers, he and his girlfriend Asli leaped at the chance to sample brews unavailable in Turkey\u2019s limited beer scene, where Pilsner-style lagers dominate.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t like beer at all before this. But I love this,\u201d said Asli, opening a bottle from the grapefruit batch. \u201cI came in right now and said I need to have a beer. That never happened before homemade beer.\u201d<\/p>\n The wedding beers are an exception. Usually, Kerem hands out his beer only to close friends and the occasional client, conscious of the prejudices and social stigma attached to alcohol.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause this topic is a bit sensitive, I\u2019m careful not to give it to too many people,\u201d he said. He and Asli requested that their surnames not be published out of concern over a potential backlash.<\/p>\n Many Turks would perceive brewing as \u201csubversive,\u201d Kerem added, even though making up to 350 litres of beer and wine per year is legal.<\/p>\n \u201cIt won\u2019t mean jail,\u201d he said, \u201cbut something like that can affect reputations and business. You can never know.\u201d<\/p>\n Erdo\u011fan has made no secret of his disdain for drinking, once declaring that \u201cwhoever drinks alcohol is an alcoholic.\u201d<\/p>\n On top of taxes, the AKP has introduced restrictions on alcohol sales. Since 2013, shops are banned from selling booze after 10 p.m. and no alcohol may be sold within 100 meters of a mosque.<\/p>\n Advertising of alcohol \u2014 just like cigarettes \u2014 is prohibited, and alcohol and tobacco products are often blurred out on Turkish television.<\/p>\n Rak\u0131 \u2014 considered Turkey\u2019s national drink \u2014 has become unaffordable for many | Mustafa Ozer\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n The government insists that such regulations are aimed at protecting public health and preventing minors from drinking. Many secular Turks, however, see them as measures designed to restrict their way of life.<\/p>\n After all, Erdo\u011fan\u2019s approach to alcohol stands in stark contrast to that of Mustafa Kemal Atat\u00fcrk, the founder of modern Turkey, who was often pictured with a glass of rak\u0131 in his hand and founded a brewery in Ankara.<\/p>\n Rak\u0131 is considered Turkey\u2019s national drink<\/a> \u2014 although Erdo\u011fan favors the yogurt-based ayran \u2014 and a key part of the country\u2019s food culture, but it has become unaffordable for many.<\/p>\n A 70cl bottle of rak\u0131, which a table of four would typically order to accompany a meze-and-fish dinner, costs 100 Turkish lira (\u20ac21) if bought from a shop and at least 130 lira (\u20ac28) at a restaurant. As a result, rak\u0131 sales plunged by 20 percent between 2012 and 2016.<\/p>\n Yet at the same time, sales of counterfeit products have risen, with sometimes devastating consequences: In the past, several people have died of alcohol poisoning in Turkey after drinking bootleg rak\u0131 mixed with methanol.<\/p>\n Regulations coming into effect at the end of March stipulate that producers must add denatonium benzoate \u2014 the most bitter chemical substance in existance \u2014 to ethyl alcohol sold in Turkey.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Many Turks have also turned to making a homemade rak\u0131-style drink by mixing ethyl alcohol \u2014 which is sold for half the price of rak\u0131 \u2014 with aniseed flavoring or oil.<\/p>\n This method has become wildly popular: In the run-up to last year\u2019s Eid al-Adha holiday, the Turkish press reported that ethyl alcohol had sold out in many supermarkets. One Turkish drinks company told Reuters<\/a> last year that ethyl alcohol sales had risen 5 to 6 percent in 2017.<\/p>\n The Turkish government, however, is about to put a stop to this trend. New regulations coming into effect at the end of March stipulate that producers must add denatonium benzoate \u2014 the most bitter chemical substance in existance \u2014 to ethyl alcohol sold in Turkey.<\/p>\n \u201cPerhaps this will make them produce real rak\u0131 from grapes,\u201d said Umut, a 38-year-old engineer and academic living in Istanbul\u2019s conservative Fatih district. \u201cThey\u2019re lazy, using ethanol. Our land, Anatolia, is heaven: we have best-quality grapes.\u201d<\/p>\n Visitors to Umut\u2019s house stumble over homemade alcohol everywhere: His second bathroom is a storeroom for wine, and beer ferments in a corner beside the television. On a table in his living room balances an alembic, a traditional copper apparatus for distilling rak\u0131.<\/p>\n Friends share a drink beside the water in Izmir | Ozan Kose\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n The alembic is the reason he does not want to be named in the press \u2014 Umut is not the academic\u2019s real name \u2014 because unlike making beer and wine, distilling rak\u0131 at home is illegal.<\/p>\n Umut began producing a variety of beer one year ago, and soon tried his hand at making red wine from Turkey\u2019s native \u00d6k\u00fczg\u00f6z\u00fc grapes. From the leftover grape skins, he makes golden-hued rak\u0131.<\/p>\n To him, home production is both a shrewd financial choice and an act of protest. \u201cAlcohol prices have increased and increased, it\u2019s become a luxury,\u201d he said. \u201cBut making it at home is also kind of political \u2014 I don\u2019t want to pay that tax to the conservatives.\u201d<\/p>\n As a university student in 2002, he added, he was able to buy a 70cl bottle of rak\u0131 for around eight lira (\u20ac1.70).<\/p>\n \u201cIf we\u2019d bought a carload of rak\u0131 in 2002 and stored it, we could buy a house if we sold it now,\u201d he said, laughing. \u201cIt\u2019s the best investment in Turkey. Better than bitcoin.\u201d<\/p>\n Like many home-brewers, Umut worries that the AKP will impose restrictions on them sooner or later. He has taught himself to make beer from barley grains, just in case the government banned the sale of beer-making kits.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe the reason behind the decrease in beer sales is the surge in home-brewed beer in Turkey\u201d \u2014 Tuncay \u00d6zilhan, chairman of Anadolu Efes<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Kerem, the sales manager, thinks it more likely that steep alcohol taxes will also be levied on such kits, which are currently taxed at the regular rate.<\/p>\n Earlier in February, the chairman of Anadolu Efes, Turkey\u2019s largest beer producer, prompted an outcry when he appeared to suggest that the government should put higher taxes on home brewing.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe the reason behind the decrease in beer sales is the surge in home-brewed beer in Turkey,\u201d said the chairman, Tuncay \u00d6zilhan, noting that brewing equipment was cheaply available.<\/p>\n \u201cToday more than half of the cost of a 50cl beer is paid in taxes. This [brewing] trend has led to a significant decline in tax income. We have shared our views about this issue with the authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n The backlash was swift: Enraged beer fans promptly started a social media campaign to boycott Efes brands. \u00d6zilhan backtracked the next day, clarifying he had not suggested a tax raise and praising home-brewers for their contribution to beer culture.<\/p>\n Despite its growing popularity, Kerem said, homemade beer was far from widespread enough to make a dent in commercial sales \u2014 for now.<\/p>\n \u201cMe and my best friend do it a lot, but all my other friends \u2026 I helped them get their kits and we did it once, but then they were too lazy and didn\u2019t keep doing it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIn Turkey, it\u2019s still pretty niche. But as prices go up, more and more people are getting into it.\u201d<\/p>\n Original Article<\/a><\/p>\n [contf] ISTANBUL \u2014 Kerem lives within walking distance of Turkey\u2019s oldest beer factory, but he refuses to dr..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":66151,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"yoast_head":"\nThe demon drink<\/h3>\n
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Sour grapes<\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\nBrewers\u2019 backlash<\/h3>\n
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