Korean Job Discussion Forums

[DanseurVertical]

I'll be moving to Korea in a couple weeks. I'm not so much a drinker, but in North America I've been fond for years of craft brewed ales. Korean beer, I understand, is generally fizzy rice-based lager. Apart from ale I appreciate nigori sake. Given that, I'm curious about 막걸리. Is it generally easy to find? How is it? 소주 is a little bit boring (and strong) to me, so I'm curious about alternatives.

[smartwentcrazy]

You won't find any craft brewed ales here. Matter of fact, you won't find any good tasting beers here. They all taste the same and they were made not for the taste but solely for profit. Beer companies have to compete with soju prices and considering soju is about $2 a bottle here, beer prices are relatively the same or cheaper. Meaning that beer is super cheap but also tastes like crap. Just imagine something like Natural Light. Makgoli is a sweet rice wine that is brewed differently depending on where you go. Some restaurants brew it themselves or they just buy the cheap bulk bottles. It's a lot better than the beer, I can tell you that.

[Jane]

You can find makeolli is any convenience store for $2 a bottle.

[brier]

It's a good point to make that makeolli is a beer in some sense of the word. It uses water, rice (or other grains) and yeast to make pretty good brew. Rice wine as a label doesn't really suit makeolli.

[Capo]

makali is my drink of choice, you can find it almost any bar restaurant or shop. Don't buy the big white bottles they are usually nasty but rest are good but i'm not much a fan of the Seng (생 confusing because it means fresh, but it is different from home made) branded ones, jang-su makali or home made is generally the best. The best one i ever had was on the top of gwanaksan, fair play to the guy hauling a barrel of makali up the mountain. These days there is a large selection available find the one u like the best. Beware of the plastic tops which are more frequent these days they often don't have a good seal so end up flat when u open them, but on the positive side you are garenteed not to cut your hand openning it which is problem with the metal caps.

soju is like a sweeter weaker vodka.

beer is fine but nothing special, better if its draft. some places have import but obviously charge more. There are some microbreweries about but i usually stick to the local stuff unless there is an all you can drink special. If you want a place with good beer you should move to Czech Republic or make do with what u get.

[Jake_Kim]

[oldtactics]

I highly, highly recommend asking your coworkers for suggestions on where to drink makgeolli, or ask them to take you out. There are a lot of really fantastic places that most people would never find unless someone took them there. Some of my best memories in Korea have been at little hole-in-the-wall 막걸리 houses. It's good stuff, enjoy!

[red_devil]

[OlBrownEyes]

Makgeolli is a great drink, but be careful with how much you drink. When you get wasted on the stuff, it creeps up on you and it does a hell of a job.

[computermichael]

Makoli is alright and one of my preferred drinks of choice. Go for the swill in the green and yellowish bottles or from some booze-monger selling it in bottles without labels.

Furthermore, if you like makoli, then dongdongju is a lot better. It always seems to get me drunker and tastes better.

Double furthermore, I like to mix vanilla ice cream with makoli. I invented this on a rainy night, and it serves its purpose. Koreans have even tried it and have acclaimed its greatness afterwards. I put some dry ice in with it once, but that didn't turn out so well. Just use some ice cream and no dry ice.

There are other lesser swilled boozes out there that are alright. Baeksaeju is decent tasting, and I've heard that it can be obtained with snake poison in. I wish I knew where. There's also some regional booze that tastes pretty good. I've had some berry wine in Gangwon-do that was worth slopping on before, and North Korean Soju is unique, though it's still soju.

Anyway, gin is less than 7,000 won at some places whenever you get sick of those.

[McGenghis]

If you can find some honest-to-goodness homemade dongdongju, take deep droughts.

[morrisonhotel]

[nukeday]

you mentioned you like nigori sake. yes, mak gul li is quite similar. it might be weaker (it's 6 percent), and it is sometimes carbonated. it is a lot cheaper and the quality is lower as well.

but if you like nigori sake, you will undoubtedly find a brand of mak gul li you like. i recommend hongdae's mak gul li man. he pushes a certain brand around in a cart- e-dong (a common brand) but with a pink label. i have never seen it sold in stores. i love it the most.

[nukeday]

[grant gerstners]

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