UPDATE: QDC did open at the Pearl yesterday, but only briefly before being closed for “technical difficulties,” an employee told Doha News. She said the store does not know when it will reopen.

Alcohol will be available for purchase at the Pearl-Qatar starting Monday, an employee at Qatar Distribution Company has confirmed.

But it still won’t be for sale at the Pearl’s restaurants, after a ban was imposed last December.

Instead, QDC will open a new store where residents with alcohol permits can purchase spirits to consume at home.

In November, QDC also stirred controversy when it began selling pork for the first time ever in Qatar.

Bacon and sausages and the like won’t be available at the shop at the Pearl now, but expect it later this year, the QDC employee told Doha News.

The new shop is likely to enthuse those who dread the trek out to QDC’s main headquarters in Abu Hamour, but is also sure to upset those who lauded the alcohol ban.

The inability to sell booze prompted a flurry of protest from restaurants, some of which lost up to 50 percent of their sales. It is also thought to have contributed to the sudden closures of high-end restaurants Megu and Tse Yang in February. 

There are rumors that the ban will be lifted this month, but a spokeswoman for United Development Company, which is developing the Pearl, said she could not confirm if or when restaurants would begin to serve alcohol again.

Thoughts?

Credit: Photo of beer cans by viZZZual.com