Makgeolli Brewing

Makgeolli is rice fermented with nuruk and left unfiltered, so it is cloudy, low in alcohol at around six percent, faintly sweet and slightly fizzy from continuing fermentation. It was the everyday drink of farm work for centuries. Two twentieth-century shocks nearly finished it: home brewing was outlawed under Japanese administration, and after the war rice shortages led the state to ban rice in liquor from 1965 to 1977, so makgeolli was made from wheat and imported flour and its reputation as a cheap, rough drink dates from exactly that period. Home brewing was only fully legalised again in 1995. Since the 2010s a serious craft revival has produced small breweries working with single-origin rice, named nuruk cultures and no aspartame, and dedicated bars in Seoul that pour them by the bottle with tasting notes. It is served in a bowl, and the bottle is stirred or rolled before pouring because the sediment settles.

What to look for

• The cloudy pour - unfiltered, stirred before serving, drunk from a bowl.
• The craft revival - small breweries and single-origin rice.
• The specialist bars - Seoul places pouring by the bottle with notes.
• Brewery visits - small producers taking visitors by arrangement.

When to go

Any time. Brewery tours and classes need booking. Seoul's makgeolli bars are the easiest introduction and usually offer flights.

Good to know

Supermarket makgeolli is mass-produced, often with aspartame, and bears little relation to craft bottles - judging the drink by it is a mistake many visitors make. It is a practice and a product, not a place to visit.

Nearby

Jeonju, Andong and Busan all have brewing traditions; Seoul has the densest concentration of specialist bars.