One of the first words that any passionate beer lover will need to learn is ‘Maek ju,’ since beer in Korea is popularly known as ‘Maek ju’ in the local language. Beer was introduced in Korea by Europeans as recently as the middle of the 20^th century. Rumour has it, that Korean beer industry sky rocketed in popularity when American troops were fighting in South Korea during the Korean War which had taken place between North and South Korea during the 1950’s. The American troops influenced many other Korean natives to turn to beer as a substitute to their Korean rice wines. Thus, this highly commercialised western drink started becoming a popularity in Korea, slowly but surely.

Korean beers are popular with the youth in Korea as is the case in almost all other countries across the world. The main point of differentiation which distinguishes beer in Korea from the beers coming from any other part of the world is the fact that most Korean beers are brewed from fermented gelatinous rice (Stick textured rice, mainly found in the Far East). The biggest beer baron in the South Korean market is the Oriental Brewery Company (which owns both ‘Cass’ and ‘O.B’) which is followed closely by the Hite Brewery Company Limited. The famous local brands of beer found in Korea are:

1)      Cass

2)      Hite

3)      O.B. (Oriental Breweries)

4)      Max

5)      Stout

Other than these beers, there are also a few smaller brands like Cafri, 2X, Cass Red and Red Dog. These smaller brands of Korean beers come from micro-breweries which have sprung up across all regions of South Korea in just the last decade. A few foreign brands of beer also exist in the Korean beer market; some of these foreign brands are Heineken, Budweiser, Leffe, Tsingdao and Asahi. Many experts suggest that the locally brewed beers in Korea do not match up to the quality of other beers available around the world, but lets not forget that the Korean  ‘Maek ju,’ has a very distinctive flavour and a much smoother texture than the rest of the beers since they are brewed from rice. Besides, local Korean beers are also much cheaper than beers which have been imported from abroad.

Almost all the local beers available are lager in nature, the alcohol content in them is only about four and a half percent. The beer in Korea is often sold in half liter bottles called byeongs, cans are rarely seen though they are also used. In most pubs and cafes around Korea, the beer is from one single company and kept in large kegs and given in five hundred milli-liter glasses called ‘Oh-Baek’. In Korea, a five hundred milli-liter glass or bottle is termed as ‘pint‘.

When drinking in Korea, it is common to start drinking with a salutation, the easiest of the salutations to remember is, “Gonebi!” which is pronounced as “gun bay”. It literally means, “Drain your glass,” and rest assured, you will certainly be expected to do so.

Surprisingly, commercial beer is also found in the communist bastion of North Korea. This beer is sold in the name of Taedonggang beer. It recently came into the limelight following an advertisement launched for it, which was in complete contrast to communist ideologies. The advertisement went on to call Taedonggang beer the “Pride of Pyongyang” and said that the beer would soon become a familiar picture in the lives of all North Koreans. This beer has started brewing as recently as the year 2002.

So hope you enjoy your ‘Maek ju,’ in Korea!!

- Shishir Rao