Thread: Cocktails at 7?

...looks like a crack in the wall:

Saudi Arabia Prepares to Open Liquor Store, But Only For Diplomats

• Riyadh store will only serve non-Muslim, foreign diplomats
• Alcohol, forbidden in Islam, was sold on black market

The licensed liquor shop will be in Riyadh. Photographer: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images

By Matthew Martin and Christine Burke (Bloomberg)

January 24, 2024 at 8:46 PM GMT+7

Saudi Arabia is about to open its first liquor shop in decades as it increasingly loosens social restrictions - but alcohol will only be sold to diplomats.
The kingdom plans to open the licensed shop in the coming weeks in Riyadh, where non-Muslim diplomats will be allowed to buy alcohol, according to foreign officials in the Saudi capital, who are familiar with the matter.

The diplomats will need to get clearance through a mobile app administered by Saudi authorities and will be subject to limits on how much they can purchase, the people said, asking not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter. The store will be located at the Diplomatic Quarter, in the southwest of the Saudi capital where most diplomats live and work.

Historically in Saudi Arabia — a Muslim country where Islamic clergy wields significant influence over daily life and how laws are implemented — alcohol has only been sold on the black market or obtained by diplomatic mail as its consumption is strictly forbidden in Islam.

Liquor was banned across the country after an intoxicated Saudi Prince shot a British diplomat in the 1950s following a party at the embassy.
Rumors have long swirled that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was making moves toward allowing alcohol as part of his Vision 2030 plans to diversify Saudi Arabia away from oil and into industries like entertainment and tourism. It had previously been reported that wine, cocktails and champagne may be allowed at his crown jewel megaproject on the Red Sea, dubbed Neom.

But government officials have previously denied any plans to start selling alcohol in the country as part of a push to attract more foreign tourists.
The government’s Center of International Communication said a new regulatory framework was being introduced to “counter the illicit trade of alcohol goods and products received by diplomatic missions.”

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

They've had a tourist visa for a while now.

Not to mention F1.

Not everywhere of course.

Outside of military bases, industrial estates, and Makkah for non-believers (that'd be me) one can go just about anywhere in the Kingdom. Hiking in the hills next to the Yemen border is not advised though.

About the alcohol. I lived in the Eastern Province and if store bought booze was required a weekend in Bahrain was the ticket. Otherwise, it was homemade plonk.

Originally Posted by happynz

Hiking in the hills next to the Yemen border is not advised though

nor the ruined christian church close to the royal commision at Al jubail, I was warned it was a jobsworth to not even approach, photograph, the kaffirs infidel wahabis like to think their form of nonsense unique, there we stifflyre also many jewish communities along the Red Sea litoral


Jubail Church (Classical Syriac: ܥܕܬܐ ܕܡܕܢܚܐ ܕܐܬܘܖ̈ܝܐ, romanized: ʿĒḏtā ḏ-Maḏnḥā ḏ-ʾĀṯūrāyē, Arabic: كنيسة الجبيل) is a 4th-century church building near Jubail, a city in the Eastern province on the Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia. It is one of the oldest churches in the world. It contains two still visible crosses that have been carved into the wall on either side of the middle inner doorway leading from the nave towards the sanctuary.[1]