When Japanese brewing giant Kirin called time on its Burmese operations last month, the news made little difference to Kyaw Gyi like many drinkers, he had long boycotted the beer it produced with a military conglomerate.
For years, Myanmar Beer dominated bars and supermarket shelves, its Japanese backing a sign of the economic liberalization washing into the Southeast Asian nation after the military relaxed its iron grip on power in 2011, but after the generals ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government in February last year, many turned their backs on the brew, along with a host of other goods