Brewed against the odds.

961 Beer began during the July 2006 conflict in Lebanon. Frustrated by the limited beer choice around them, Mazen Hajjar and friends started brewing in a kitchen. The first batches came from 20-litre kettles on domestic stoves—an improbable beginning for any company, particularly in wartime.

The name takes Lebanon’s international dialling code and turns it into a simple statement of origin. From the beginning, the idea was both local and outward-looking: make beer with a recognisably Lebanese point of view, then let it travel.

The brewery describes its choice as the artisanal approach: traditional brewing technique, good ingredients and attention to the batch. As production grew beyond its kitchen beginnings, that principle remained the useful measure—not scale for its own sake, but character maintained as more people discovered the beer.

961 helped open a modern conversation about independent beer in Lebanon and the wider region. Available evidence supports describing it as an early regional microbrewery; the broader ‘first craft brewery’ claim remains withheld until its geographic scope can be independently confirmed.

The range spans lager, witbier, red ale, porter and pale ale. Lebanese Pale Ale is the clearest expression of the brewery’s interest in place, using Lebanese herbs and spices alongside the structure of a pale ale.

For the UK, 961 Beer is presented as a trade proposition rather than a consumer checkout. The page introduces the brewery and its range, then opens a route for licensed buyers to register interest. No stock status, consumer price or delivery promise is implied.