Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mack the knife]

A) It makes me sneeze (apparently Rudyflyer has the same dilema)

B) The flavor is, at best, like a typical, watered down American lager/wanna-be pilsner.
1) Regardless of the brand
2) Regardless of the style

C) Guinness is a stout. Murphy's is a stout. Cooper's is a stout. Beamish is a stout. Hite "Stout" is nothing like a stout...at all...

D) It gives me incredible hangovers the likes of which God has never experienced.

E) For those of you who like "Red Rock", that's just the regular garbage with a little caramalized grain thrown in for color (and your brain simply tricks you into thinking "man, this is a decent beer!" because of the darker color...you are losing the battle if you pay extra for this crappage...

F) There is a huge tariff on imported beer. Why? Who would buy this Korean tripe if they had access to reasonably priced imports (then again, losers still buy "Bud" by the keg back in the States)...

G) Some of you are saying "Yeah, but I can buy Heinie, Carlsberg, and other imports for, like, 2,000 won a bottle"...True, but a lot of that stuff is not the real deal...it's made in Singapore or elsewhere. And beer is ALL about the water!! You can emulate, but never duplicate, the original water source!! Besides, back in the States I wouldna touch a Heinie with a 10 foot pole...it's just Europe's "Bud".
1) Beck's, however, is a noteworthy pilsner
2) And I've noticed Pilsner Urquell popping up in bars (anyone found it
at a grocery yet?)

H) Did I mention the hangovers from Hell?

I) Some have said that Korean breweries add preservatives and other questionable ingredients to their beer (which perhaps aid and abet aforementioned headaches)...My question is, "who wants to preserve that shee-it??!!)

[rudyflyer]

When I drink Korean beer, my sinsuses get clogged up and I can barely breathe. That doesn't happen when I drink other beers.

Must be something they put in that I'm allergic to

At least during the world cup, the Budweiser was the real thing

[weatherman]

I will bite on this thread, though my beer consumption is down these days, and that is a good thing. Korean beer can really rock your arse if you know what I mean. The stuff is cheap, like the times when you drink it. I find the sang-maek-ju even worse. If Korea put even 1% of the effort it puts into getting pastic surgery, into beer brewing, then the stuff would be at least marketable, and maybe drinkable. Really Korea needs to understand its beer is stomach rot and do something about it. If Korean can make pretty faces on a western perpective, why can't it make beer on a western perspective too?

(wow, I am a bit bitter today, and maybe some conection to another beer-goggling thread)

[Dan]

then don't drink it...

[maxxx_power]

I don't think OB is all that bad, reminds me of Miller High Life or a crisp Pabst Blue Ribbon.

Although the next day you do have the serious beer s%$s.

[simulated stereo]

[sparkx]

Try Hite Premium -- not too bad. Not too bad at all.

[denz]

right on, sparx. hite premium is the best of a bad bunch, which makes it damn tasty.

we live in the land of duff.

denz

[mack the knife]

Dan,

i don't, and i'm still going to bitch about it!!

maybe some korean brewer will read this and have a change of heart...right...

i've tried every korean beer out there...it's 100% shee-it...it all makes me feel like *ss the next day...it all makes me have allergic reactions (back me up on this one, Rudy!!)...

i wouldn't bitch about it so vehemently if i didn't think the stuff was downright foul (possibly toxic in even moderate doses!!))))))))

By the way.....once again the japanese have one-upped their westerly neighbors in something...a lot of japanese beer rocks (sapporo black one of the best swarzbiers on the market...period....)

[Dan]

don't get me wrong mack, i agree completely. but i hated american beer just as much. Most american beer is just really bitter, and sam adams? tastes like a skunk peed and they put that in a bottle.

so, i don't drink it. only thing i regularly drink now is a warm glass of bailey's mixed with some milk before bed.

haha, i'm getting too damn old :/

[Holden]

Anyone else find that the draft beers here give you the worst hangovers? SOmething about the non-pasteurization of Korean draft, from what I hear. Oh man, the worst hang overs in Korea...I still have nightmares of waking up feeling like I'm dying and then having to go teach the little monsters in 45 minutes or less...knowing that if I called in sick my bosss was sure to come banging on my door "worried". I learned it's best just not to drink except on weekends and not draft.

[The King of Kwangju]

Holden -

I agree, and I'm sure a lot of others here do, too. I've never heard a good explanation as to why the draft is so toxic (paseurization, "dirty lines," bad water...) but empirical evidence bears it out.

Yet who can resist those gleaming, towering 500-cc jugs of nectar? Mere pennies a glass, they are! Time and time again I got suckered, and my students ended up paying the price for my foolishness.

[narsty dog]

Maybe the beer is wa&k , but it is so much better these days than 7 years ago , when you can actually just walk into a 7/ 11 and get becks, hoegaarden or stella. you can even get an half decent bottle of chardonnay for Man won if you know where to look. I heard a lot of the beer has formaldahyde in it , any science boffin know about that ?
even though the beer's bad , does anyone remember a bar/ club in Shinchon called Azitto, owned by a few weegookindul back in about '98 ?
they used to serve a concotion called "poju" ( hangungmal for 'pimp') which was podo jusuh (grape juice ) and soju ; you could get a big plastic bottle of that ( way stronger than the itwaewon jungle juice ) for Yukchonwon ......i passed out for about 2 days once.

Anyway korean beer is sh&t , but at least you can always get it if you want it , and in Seoul there' s always lots of nice girls around to drink it with.

[Zyzyfer]

[Tiberious aka Sparkles]

I'm amazed that so many people are complaining about the hangovers they get from drinking Korean beer. What's up with that? The percentage is lower than typical Canadian and American brews. From my experience, I get no hangover whatsoever from Korean beer. It's not the best stuff in the world, but it does the trick. I'm no beer elitist. I can judge a superior beer to an inferior one, but I've certainly never been repulsed by the beer over here. If your pallette is that refined, maybe you'd be better off as an ice cream tester than as an ESL teacher.

After going back to Canada last year, my ass was kicked over some Labbatt's, because the alcohol percentage is higher. And beer --no matter the brand-- will give you the runs if you drink enough of it. All this bunk about formaldahyde in the beer...well, if there is, I guess I'm preserving my insides rather well. Then again, formaldahyde does cause cancer. A lot of this smells of Korea bashing. Mexican beer and Yank beer is pretty lackluster, but they make some decent brews as well. Hite Prime isn't bad. OB Lager too.

I guess I'm just a simple guy. I like good beer (Heineken is alright with me; I won't raise my nose and complain that the stuff I buy in Canada or Korea isn't as good as the recipe the Dutch keep for themselves), but I certainly wouldn't claim that Korean beer can be "toxic in small doses".

Drink up.