Mandalay Brewery of Mandalay, Myanmar (formerly Burma), is of great interest. It was founded in 1886 in the aftermath of the Third Anglo-Burmese war, by Dyer Breweries (DB).
DB was the creation of English brewing entrepreneur Edward Dyer.* Dyer established early breweries in India, expanding elsewhere in Asia. Storied DB, through merger, became Dyer Meakin and finally in 1949, Mohan Meakin.
During the British India era Burma became a province of India, and from 1937 was separately administered. The Japanese overran Burma in World War II, by 1948 it was independent.
One of the hardest infantry fights in the war was regaining Mandalay in late 1944-1945. It was the culmination of a long campaign to retake Burma and preceded by long-range British and American jungle raids. The Burma Road, which supplied China, was a strategic objective.
After conquering Burma in 1942 the Japanese, with Thai involvement, established a puppet republic and compliant Burma Independent Army.
Much of the city outside the central administrative and military district of Fort Dufferin was levelled by Japanese bombing. The Japanese occupied Fort Dufferin as a command centre. The brewery was north of Fort Dufferin in the city, as it remains today, but was not significantly affected by the fighting.
When the Japanese established control their domestic business firms assumed management of local industries. Mandalay Brewery became a fief of a Japanese-controlled beer and liquor monopoly based in Taiwan, Takasago.
Beer production continued but later soy and miso were substituted, according to a number of sources.
A focal point of the March 1945 fighting was winning Mandalay Hill, which directly overlooked Fort Dufferin. Once it was taken bombing and artillery were directed to Fort Dufferin but the last defenders could not be dislodged. The fort was protected by both a street-wide earth wall and wide moat.
(The fort had been built by Burmese rulers before the British conquered all of Burma, who did their work well).
Breaches in the wall were made but the moat proved an effective barrier. A nightime raid to cross it and scale the walls was abandoned due to heavy deterring fire.
After a B-25 Mitchell bombing raid and with most of Mandalay now lost the Japanese decided finally to abandon the fort. They escaped through drains under the moat, straggling south and east. Freed civilians walked out waiving a white flag and Union Jacks. By end of March 1945 all Mandalay was back in British hands.
The brewery was still intact, as Australian reportage on the final assault confirmed. Its cinematic detail may be noted, journalism could attain that standard in the pre-television era.
In April 1945 a syndicated news column by American movie star Bob Hope, called It Says Here, noted Mandalay Brewery was captured along with the city.
Some of the jokes fall flat or are obscure today, but this line should raise a smile:
The next phase will be the capture of a pretzel factory in Rangoon.
And this jibe:
… the British like their beer warm, too … that’s like seeing Dorothy Lamour and admiring her hair dress [hair style].
Hope’s capper: an American flier told Hope that after seeing the brewery he “sat down and wrote Forever Amber”.
Forever Amber was an American novel of 1944, a Restoration romance, not a little explicit for the time. It made a splash on release and its young author, Kathleen Winsor, became an instant celebrity.
Mandalay Brewery was remembered in a different but still related context by the historian of a British tank regiment, G.M.O. Davy, writing its history in 1953. The setting was 1942: Rangoon was lost and British forces were evacuating the country.
In The Seventh and Three Enemies (1953) Davy wrote that a rumour circulated among the ranks that Mandalay Brewery would soon close, which sped the tankers into action. See the book for the rest of a wry tale, beginning at p. 249.
It seems likely Mandalay Brewery was dry on its recapture in 1945. Yet, the victorious forces were not to be deprived of a celebratory draught due in part, yes, to the Canadians. Some years ago the Waterloo Chronicle of Waterloo, Ontario described a gathering of war veterans, stating:
Budd, now 89, was in one of two Royal Canadian Air Force squadrons stationed in India during the Second World War and flew Douglas C-47 Dakota military transport planes helping resupply the British 14th Army.
“The day after they took Mandalay back, I delivered 6,000 pounds of beer and whisky,” recalled Budd, who flew a total of 161 missions during the war. “We got quite a good reception.”
It may sound frivolous to send alcohol with dispatch in such a situation but beer and spirits were made available in a variety of circumstances to Allied fighting forces, as a morale booster.
Here it was especially important, meant as tribute to those who achieved a vital victory. No doubt in Mandalay after Canada did its good work many a glass was raised, not least to brothers-in-arms in hospital, or forever interred in Burmese soil or waters.
Today, the Mandalay and Myanmar Breweries in the country are majority-owned by Japan’s Kirin Brewery. A sample label from Mandalay Brewery is shown above (source: Ratebeer). It seems in fact an ale, in the style old Edward Dyer brought to Asia long ago.**
Note re image: all intellectual property in image above belongs solely to the lawful owner. Used for educational and historical purposes. All feedback welcomed.
For Part II see here.
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*According to Ian Colvin’s The Life of General Dyer, Edward was born in Calcutta in 1831. Apparently he was sent to and educated in England, whence he returned to the Far East.
**Jeffrey Alexander in his book Brewed in Japan: The Evolution of the Japanese Beer Industry, wrote that from October 1942 until 1945 Takasuna Beer, a subsidiary of Kirin, operated Mandalay Brewery, “via Taiwan”. This clearly meant Takasago. And so when Kirin acquired its current holding some years ago, in a manner of speaking Mandalay Brewery had returned to its fold. Kirin has recently announced following allegations of human rights abuses by Burma’s military government that it was reviewing its Burma investments given the government holds a minority stake in the brewery. See this Financial Times report. As far as I know at the present date, the ownership interests have not changed.