I haven’t been in Cairo since 1998, so I guess there’ve been some developments. I know you can drink Lowenbrau beer there now, for instance, and the subway has a second line. And then I was at this pan-Mid East cafe in Las Cruces, NM, of all places, and they had this “malt beverage.” In the US, that means St. Ide’s, but in Egypt, that means something non-alcoholic, sort of fake beer, which I’ve never liked.

But this malt beverage came in a pretty blue can (fayrouz means ‘turquoise’ in Arabic), and in pineapple flavor, no less. So how could I say no? And it was delicious! Fizzy, not too sweet, very refreshing.

A fine product of Egypt–I’m very impressed. I remember when Stella beer used to have twigs in it.

Thanks to Beverly for, I guess, fishing the can out from under the seat of her car and taking a picture…