Site Search:
 
Speak Korean Now!
Teach English Abroad and Get Paid to see the World!
Korean Job Discussion Forums Forum Index Korean Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
 
 FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 

The Economist Comments on Korean Beer: It Sucks!
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6  Next
 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Korean Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> General Discussion Forum
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
motiontodismiss



Joined: 18 Dec 2011

PostPosted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 12:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

swigs wrote:
I personally believe there are various impurities in them, that could potentially cause worse hangovers, etc.



Personally I wouldn't be surprised if there were carcinogens in Korean soju. That stuff is vile. In the meanwhile I'll continue to pay 20k won a bottle for a bottle of $3 wine.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
orosee



Joined: 07 Mar 2008
Location: Hannam-dong, Seoul

PostPosted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 3:20 pm    Post subject: Re: hm Reply with quote

everything-is-everything wrote:
nicwr2002 wrote:
The beers are bad, but I must say OB is noticeably better tasting


true, but they gotta change that name. It sounds too much like BO Laughing


OB is the leading brand of tampons in Germany. Association with BO would actually be an improvement.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Steelrails



Joined: 12 Mar 2009
Location: Earth, Solar System

PostPosted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 4:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Gotta agree that when it comes to drinking with Korean food, Korean beer tastes like it's "supposed to". A more complex beer really wouldn't work. Certain wines and rice liquors of course, work better.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Swampfox10mm



Joined: 24 Mar 2011

PostPosted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 5:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

JustinC wrote:

Nothing in that article points to an obvious reason why the beer market is monopolized by just two players.


Quote:
The problem for South Korean boozers is that their national market is a cramped duopoly. Hite-Jinro and Oriental Brewery (OB) have nearly 100% of it. Their beers are hard to tell apart; their prices, even harder.


Note: duopoly = 2 players.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
jdog2050



Joined: 17 Dec 2006

PostPosted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 8:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

geldedgoat wrote:
swigs wrote:
While American domestics that are exported en masse are not that much better [...]


That is an accurate statement.

C'mon, Sam Adams, Abita, New Belgium, Shiner Bock, Sierra Nevada... All these breweries produce quality beers and can be found in most grocery and convenience stores. And even the large breweries that are most famous for their horsepiss have widely available, decent beer, like Killian's from Coors and Amberbock from Budweiser.

And this doesn't even begin to touch on the incredible number of microbrews.

America's domestic scene is in no way comparable to Korea's.

Quote:
Craft brewery in 'merica is catching up to good 'ol europa.


In terms of per capita scale, America's microbrews are likely to never catch up to Europe's. In terms of quality, however, the past decade or so of international beer competitions shows something else entirely...


Actually there are now more breweries in America than there are in Germany--

http://blogs.denverpost.com/beer/2012/08/06/craft-brewing-continues-growth-spurt/5473/

http://www.germanbeerinstitute.com/breweries.html
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Weigookin74



Joined: 26 Oct 2009

PostPosted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 8:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

JustinC wrote:
"The Korean taxman treats malt, hops and yeast as beer ingredients, which are subject to low import duties."

Nothing in that article points to an obvious reason why the beer market is monopolized by just two players

"Until 2011, regulations required all brewers to have enough capacity to brew well over 1m litres at a time."

That's not really a huge amount in a country of 50 million, where having a few beers isn't exactly frowned upon.


That's not one million a year as someone said. That's one million at one time. Designed to keep smaller brewers away. Glad to hear it's changed. Maybe in time there'll be better beers made here. But when Koreans go abroad and want their own beer too, that's unbelievable. But American beer isn't much better and Canadian only marginally better than that. The craft brewers definately have it going on. But, I'd choose German beers as my favorite.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
jdog2050



Joined: 17 Dec 2006

PostPosted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 9:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Weigookin74 wrote:
JustinC wrote:
"The Korean taxman treats malt, hops and yeast as beer ingredients, which are subject to low import duties."

Nothing in that article points to an obvious reason why the beer market is monopolized by just two players

"Until 2011, regulations required all brewers to have enough capacity to brew well over 1m litres at a time."

That's not really a huge amount in a country of 50 million, where having a few beers isn't exactly frowned upon.


That's not one million a year as someone said. That's one million at one time. Designed to keep smaller brewers away. Glad to hear it's changed. Maybe in time there'll be better beers made here. But when Koreans go abroad and want their own beer too, that's unbelievable. But American beer isn't much better and Canadian only marginally better than that. The craft brewers definately have it going on. But, I'd choose German beers as my favorite.


You're still a little incorrect.

It's not that you had to *brew* 1 million liters of beer. You had to have the capacity to *store* 1 million liters of beer. So, it's even worse than you think. You would have had to start a brewery with the capacity to store 1 million liters even though you and your investors knew that, maximum, you'd only be *producing* about 5,000-10,000 liters at any given time. And that was if you were super busy (in terms of being a microbrewery).

They lowered this capacity number to 150,000...but that's still about 15x what an average microbrewery actually needs.

So it's basically just a huge *entry* barrier, not production barrier.

Let me put it in perspective. I recently took a trip to Chicago and visited places like Haymarket Pub, Piece Brewing, Half-Acre, etc. These are breweries that are listed in several books and magazines as being the best of the region and get fairly high and consistent ratings on websites.

On average, their capacity for distribution? 8,000 Liters. Think about that. These guys, in beer-circles, are pretty famous destinations, and their capicities are about 16X lower than what is required to *start* a distributing brewery in South Korea. THAT is the problem.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
joesp



Joined: 16 Jan 2008

PostPosted: Mon Dec 10, 2012 12:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The article says:
Quote:
Until 2011, regulations required all brewers to have enough capacity to brew well over 1m litres at a time. This in effect kept all but Hite and OB from bringing foamy goodness to the masses. Smaller producers were allowed to sell their beer only on their own premises.

Today, anyone with the capacity to produce 120,000 litres can apply for a wholesale licence.


But, they do not say what is the time frame for the production. I guess they mean if they started brewing in all the tanks at the same time.

A quick google search for brewing capacity of micro breweries comes up with things like the following:

1. Any Brewery which produces less than 5000 liters (50hl) / day is a Micro Brewery
2. We are an independent micro-brewery producing cask and bottle conditioned Real Ales. We have been ... Our brewing capacity is 4 Brewers Barrels - 16 casks, or 144 gallons (about 650 litres).

Batch sizes seem to vary from 4,000 ~ 80,000 L per brewing cycle.

Somebody should ask Craftworks; their website doesn't say.

Since the change was made in 2011, the jury may still be out.

And, as they say, there are other challenges besides size.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Unibrow



Joined: 20 Aug 2012

PostPosted: Mon Dec 10, 2012 6:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I drink Cass and Hite, but in the States I drink Milwaukees Best usually.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
EZE



Joined: 05 May 2012

PostPosted: Mon Dec 10, 2012 8:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Unibrow wrote:
I drink Cass and Hite, but in the States I drink Milwaukees Best usually.


You sounds a lot like me. I used to drink Cass, but I'm a Hite man now, with an occasional Cass. In the States, I usually drink Milwaukee's Best now that I can no longer find the $4.99 for a 12 pack brand called Josef Hoffbauer. Those were the good ole days. I notice its reviews are no better than Korean beers: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/892/11465 Hite and Josef Hoffbauer are, in my opinion, two of the most underrated beers especially when price is taken into consideration.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Mix1



Joined: 08 May 2007

PostPosted: Mon Dec 10, 2012 9:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

swigs wrote:

I imagine a beer culture will be come more prevalent once the majority of Korean's realize that waygooks measure quality of beer with quality of society. Soon they will have the best beer.

Just start the Beer Olympics.

Once they came in near dead last on those rankings, they'd NEVER let that happen again!

"Must make world best #1 beer!"

I usually just say NO to the beer here unless it's a toast. A Korean friend noticed this, and admitted Korean beer is pretty bad. His reasoning? They COULD make it better, but they want to sell more soju. Um...yeah.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Steelrails



Joined: 12 Mar 2009
Location: Earth, Solar System

PostPosted: Mon Dec 10, 2012 9:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Koreans will drink good beer (or at least, better). That's for when they go to a bar dedicated to beer. What, you think it's only expats keeping the places with imported beer open?

But if you are out at a typical Korean bar or restaurant, sorry but the only imported beers I could imagine tasting good with Korean BBQ or a plate of dalkkalbi would be something like an MGD/Budweiser, at best maybe a Mexican brew like Pacifico or Sol.

It would be like drinking magkeoli with Italian or Tex-Mex. It just wouldn't taste right.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
waynehead



Joined: 18 Apr 2006
Location: Jongno

PostPosted: Mon Dec 10, 2012 9:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I agree that crappy Korean beer goes great with galbi or something like that, but it's only because we're conditioned to put the two together. No reason we can't start re-conditioning this country and really have a positive influence! Smile Imagine a crisp Duvel (now available at many fine Korean retailers in Seoul) with your dalkgalbi. Doesn't that sound good?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
John Stamos jr.



Joined: 07 Oct 2012
Location: Namsan

PostPosted: Mon Dec 10, 2012 9:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Steelrails wrote:
Koreans will drink good beer (or at least, better). That's for when they go to a bar dedicated to beer. What, you think it's only expats keeping the places with imported beer open?

But if you are out at a typical Korean bar or restaurant, sorry but the only imported beers I could imagine tasting good with Korean BBQ or a plate of dalkkalbi would be something like an MGD/Budweiser, at best maybe a Mexican brew like Pacifico or Sol.

It would be like drinking magkeoli with Italian or Tex-Mex. It just wouldn't taste right.


So Koreans are keeping Craftworks open? And the crappy Korean alcohol isn't crappy because it goes well with the Korean food, huh? Rolling Eyes

There's that 100% objectivity at work.


Last edited by John Stamos jr. on Mon Dec 10, 2012 10:51 pm; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
geldedgoat



Joined: 05 Mar 2009

PostPosted: Mon Dec 10, 2012 10:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Steelrails wrote:
But if you are out at a typical Korean bar or restaurant, sorry but the only imported beers [...]


...are the ones you smuggle in? Laughing
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Korean Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> General Discussion Forum All times are GMT - 8 Hours
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6  Next
Page 3 of 6

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


This page is maintained by the one and only Dave Sperling.
Contact Dave's ESL Cafe
Copyright © 2018 Dave Sperling. All Rights Reserved.

Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group

TEFL International Supports Dave's ESL Cafe
TEFL Courses, TESOL Course, English Teaching Jobs - TEFL International