In 1996 my wife and I visited Egypt, on the tour I had one free day so I took the opportunity and decided to visit the local brewery.

I had the hotel translate the address into Arabic and hailed a taxi to take me there, I don't think the taxi driver quite understood why I wanted to go there but we eventually got there anyway !

I asked the taxi driver to wait for me as I was unsure of my surroundings. I eventually made the guard at the gate understand what I wanted with the help of the driver and sign language.

I was suddenly treated like a VIP and taken straight up to the top floor to see the President, he was very nice to me and ordered beers for both of us and we talked about my strange hobby, whilst we were drinking our warm beers another employee was getting labels for me from the factory floor, half an hour later he came back with a handful of new labels.

We then made our farewells and I hoped the taxi was still there (he was asleep in the car), I have visited many breweries around the world but I will never forget the experience I had at the Pyramid Brewery !

The above photo of the original "Pyramids Brewery" was taken by my friend Ken who visited Cairo in June 2007, this building has now closed and has been relocated 45 kms away.

Photo taken of Australian soldiers during WWI at the Mena Beer Garden, Cairo.

Below are some of my favourite Egyptian labels I have collected over the years :