When we were still looking into booking our trip we had to choose between two hotel options; all inclusive or not. It was explained to us that “all inclusive” included alcohols as well as all other drinks (coke, water, etc.), while with the standard option you paid for it all out of your own pocket. We chose the less expensive non-inclusive option and now know it was a mistake.

Morocco is 99% Muslim, a religion where alcohol is strictly forbidden. However Morocco seems to be on the more modern side of things with alcohol freely available for purchase in stores before 8pm, and readily available in all restaurants and hotels, though we stayed in one hotel where a very religious owner forbid any alcohol what so ever within the building.

During our very first lunch I had ordered us two Casablanca beers, sold at 50 dirham’s each. Casablanca is a dark beer with a sweet taste to it and 5% alcohol per volume. Brewed locally, as you may have guessed, in Casablanca. Served cold on a hot Moroccan day it was delicious until I realized just how much I just paid for a 0.33 liter bottle of beer. Fifty dirham’s translates roughly into 5 Euros, 7 US Dollars, and 20 Polish Zlotys! That’s a lot to pay for a bottle of beer. For 20 zlotys you get 5 half liter good quality Polish lagers, not one freaking beer! You could even get 6 half liter bottles of a very good Bavarian beer as I have recently done in Germany.

Casablanca is good, but not THAT good. It was only towards the end of the trip, on the very last day in fact, that we found Casablanca’s for a semi regular price of 2 euros a bottle, but by then it had already left a bad taste in my mouth.

EDIT: I’m not sure why this blog has increasingly become overwhelmed with ‘beer’ entries, but I am slowly beginning to see a pattern here…