Xue Qiao / EPA
Forty-four-year-old Cen Yingyuan combs her 6-foot-long hair at home in Zhanjiang, China, Feb. 23. Cen is only 5 feet tall, and has not gotten a haircut in 11 years. She uses beer to keep her hair black and smooth.
Xue Qiao / EPA
Cen Yingyuan washes her hair.
All images by Faisal Mahmood / Reuters
Workers at Pakistan's lone beer maker, Murree Brewery, line up empty beer bottles at the factory in Rawalpindi, Nov. 10, 2012.
The only brewery in Pakistan has a 150-year-old tradition. NBC's Amna Nawaz reports.
Faisal Mahmood, Reuters — Murree Brewery, established in 1860 by British colonial rulers to supply beer to their troops, is desperately looking for business overseas to hedge against its uncertain domestic market. Prohibition was imposed in Pakistan in 1977. Non-Muslims and foreigners must obtain a government permit to purchase alcohol at designated retailers which are mainly upscale hotels.
See more beer related images on PhotoBlog
EDITOR’S NOTE: Images made available to NBC News on Nov. 15.
An employee prepares barley at the Murree Brewery in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Nov. 10.
A Murree Brewery employee checks barrels at the factory in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Nov. 10.
A Murree Brewery guard closes the factory's main gate in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Nov. 10.
Luke MacGregor / Reuters
London: A pair of gloves and a mallet rest on beer barrels at The Kernel microbrewery on October 17, 2012. Where once the big, multinational beer corporations accounted for the lion's share of brewery growth, now small, independent brewers are leading the way.
Mario Tama / Getty Images
New York: Workers install a 25-foot tall fermenter at Brooklyn Brewery.
Beer drinkers in London and New York City may be separated by a frothy ocean, but, as photographers Mario Tama and Luke MacGregor saw for themselves over the past few days, they increasingly share a taste for cask ales produced by small, independent brewers.
During the pre-Prohibition era, Brooklyn (a New York City borough) had more than 45 breweries and was one of the largest brewing centers in the U.S., Getty Images reports, but today Brooklyn Brewery is the only brewery in the borough.
The tide is turning, though. A mid-year report by the Brewer's Association cited a 12 percent increase in craft beer sales to 6 million barrels this year. The number of American breweries has surged to a 125-year-high of 2,126 breweries last year, 97 percent of which are independent craft breweries.
In Britain, meanwhile, microbreweries have seen their numbers rise above 1,000 for the first time in over 70 years, Reuters reports, even as Britons' affection for their national drink has waned. The Kernel microbrewery in Bermondsey, South London is one of many new kids on the British beer block.
"People are moving away from the mainstream rubbish," Andrew Turner of the recently opened London Fields brewery said. "They want to drink good local stuff."
Got your beer goggles on? Check out these videos:
Mario Tama / Getty Images
New York: Workers prepare to install a 25-foot tall fermenter at Brooklyn Brewery on October 23, 2012 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.
Luke MacGregor / Reuters
London: Brewer Joby Williams breaks up the hops used in the brewing process to create an India Pale Ale beer at The Kernel micro-brewery.
Luke MacGregor / Reuters
London: Brewer Chrigl Luthy cleans out the malt and spent grain from the mash tun used in the brewing process to create an India Pale Ale at The Kernel micro-brewery.
Mario Tama / Getty Images
New York: A total of eight fermenters are being installed at Brooklyn Brewery this week, which will allow the craft brewery to make 100,000 barrels of beer per year, 24 hours a day.
Mario Tama / Getty Images
New York: Production manager Jimmy Valm adds hops to the boil in the brewhouse at Brooklyn Brewery.
Luke MacGregor / Reuters
London: A box of beer and a pair of wellington boots are seen at The Kernel micro-brewery.
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Matthias Schrader / AP
An empty beer mug stands on a table at the last day of the famous Bavarian "Oktoberfest" beer festival during heavy rain in Munich, southern Germany, on Oct. 7. Munich's famed celebration of beer, the Oktoberfest, is drawing to a close after some 6.4 million visitors downed an estimated 6.9 million liter mugs of Bavarian brew — some 14.6 million pints.
Michael Dalder / Reuters
Oktoberfest visitors take cover during heavy rain at the last day of the world biggest beer festival in Munich on Oct. 7.
Christof Stache / AFP - Getty Images
A man wipes gingerbread hearts after the rain at a booth of the Oktoberfest festival fair ground at the Theresienwiese in Munich, southern Germany, on Oct. 7, the last day of the world famous beer festival.
Christof Stache / AFP - Getty Images
Visitors of the Oktoberfest festival wait during the rain in front of a booth at Oktoberfest festival fair ground at the Theresienwiese in Munich, southern Germany, on Oct. 7, the last day of the world famous beer festival.
Christof Stache / AFP - Getty Images
Bavarian riflemen fire gun salute on the steps of the Bavaria monument at the Theresienwiese fair grounds of the Oktoberfest beer festival in Munich, southern Germany, on Oct. 7, the last day of the world famous beer festival.
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Millions of beer drinkers from around the world will come to the Bavarian capital over the next two weeks for the 179th Oktoberfest, which began Sept. 22 and runs until Oct. 7.
Kai Pfaffenbach / Reuters
Revellers reach out for the first beer in the traditional one-liner "Masskrug" beer mugs at the opening day of the Munich Oktoberfest at the Theresienwiese in Munich, Sept. 22. The world's biggest beer festival runs until October 7.
Related story: Raise a glass (or beer mug) to the Oktoberfest tradition
Slideshow: Bottoms up at Oktoberfest!
Lennart Preiss / dapd via AP
German Chancellor Angela Merkel drinks beer in a beer tent during a fair in Abensberg, southern Germany, on Sept. 3, 2012. Merkel and her government have insisted that the key to resolving the eurozone's debt crisis is for struggling countries to cut their budget deficits and pursue structural reforms such as liberalizing labor markets.
Taking a short break from worries over the future of the European single currency, German Chancellor Angela Merkel sank a beer at the traditional Gillamoos folk festival in Abensberg on Monday.
Germany's Constitutional Court will hold the fate of the euro in its hands when it rules next week on whether a crucial euro zone financial rescue fund can go ahead, Reuters reports.
NYT: US companies conduct fire drills in case Greece exits Euro
Merkel isn't the only political leader to enjoy the occasional beer. White House employees recently divulged the secret recipes for President Obama's honey porter, honey brown and honey blond ales, allowing cameras into the kitchens to see the process for making the homebrewed beers. Watch a behind-the-scenes video.
More images of Angela Merkel on PhotoBlog
Michael Dalder / Reuters
Angela Merkel waves after her arrival in a beer tent at the Gillamoos folk festival in Abensberg on Sept. 3, 2012.
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Matthias Schrader / AP
A worker walks through the Hacker Pschorr beer tent during preparations for the 178th Oktoberfest beer festival in Munich, southern Germany, on Sept. 8.
No sign of the beer yet, but I guess it's in the fridge.
Munich's Oktoberfest, the world's largest beer festival, is expected to draw several million visitors, the AP reports. The festival will be held from September 17 to October 3.
If you've ever wondered what hops look like before being processed for beer, here are some images from this year's harvest in Washington state.
Gordon King / Yakima Herald-Republic via AP
Marisol Brito cuts hop vines at the base as she works harvesting hops at the Puterbaugh Farms in Mabton, Wash. Aug. 30, 2011. Once the vines are cut, a combine follows her and completes the harvest process.
Gordon King / Yakima Herald-Republic via AP
Josh Frank distributes hops as they're dumped into a truck following a harvesting combine Aug. 30, 2011 at the Puterbaugh Farms in Mabton, Wash. The hops being harvested are the Columbus variety and may be sold to a hops merchant or directly to a brewery or brewer through the website hopsdirect.com.
Here's a brief story about the harvest, and another about a hops producer selling to craft beer makers.
Eric Gay / AP
Tubers pull a cooler along as they float the Comal River, Monday, Aug. 22, in New Braunfels, Texas. The New Braunfels City Council is to consider an ordinance banning beer cans and other disposable containers on the Comal River and the Guadalupe River, popular tubing waterways.
DFW in Dallas reports the bad news. Something tells me it could get ugly down there.
Charles Dharapak / AP
President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama drink Guinness beer as they meet with local residents at Ollie Hayes pub in Moneygall, Ireland, the ancestral homeland of his great-great-great grandfather, Monday, May 23.
Related content:
Full story: Obama in Ireland to reaffirm 'bonds of affection'
Another head of state, Queen Elizabeth II, turns down a pint of the black stuff: Stiff upper lip, with Guinness moustache, just wouldn't do
Hamlet celebrates its most famous great-great-great grandson. NBC's Norah O'Donnell reports.
Behrouz Mehri / AFP-Getty Images
Pakistani worker Hamid Shah removes a damaged bottle from the control line of whisky bottling at The Murree Brewery Company in Rawalpindi on July 13, 2010. The Murree Brewery company was established in 1860 to meet the beer requirements of British personnel (mainly army). Pakistan's oldest public company and the only brewery in this Islamic republic produces 60000 liters of Beer, 30000 liters of liquors, like whisky, Vodka and Gin and 100000 liters of non-alcoholic drinks and juices per year after 150 years in business. Only being allowed to sell to the non-Muslim three percent of the 170 million population as under the present prohibition law, only non-Muslims and foreigners are permitted to consume alcohol. The alcoholic production can not be exported to the other countries and non-Muslims can only buy from designated shops inside hotels in Islamabad and also from alcoholic shops in the local markets of Karachi and other cities of Sindh province.
I wonder how shops determine a potential buyer's religion before selling alcoholic drinks.
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