Beer in North Korea

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"[T]he average Pyongyang man [drinks] beer fairly frequently — at least once a week. People in the countryside drink less often, and some never at all. Beer culture is still developing; it is mainly men going to a bar after work, drinking a couple of beers." [12]

In the future, beer drinking is expected to trend among young people in particular. [18] North Korean youths have begun to emulate their South Korean counterparts for whom beer and folk music was a youth trend in the 1970s. [19]

Availability

A group of tourists at the Taedonggang Microbrewery No. 3 in Pyongyang. Beer is available to tourists without limitation. Taedonggang Microbrewery No. 3 Pyongyang Beer (10091203546).jpg
A group of tourists at the Taedonggang Microbrewery No. 3 in Pyongyang. Beer is available to tourists without limitation.

Mass-produced beer can be found everywhere in the country, [20] and microbreweries are also common. [12]

North Koreans need to expend food coupons when buying beer, which will diminish their grain rations. [21] North Korean men residing in Pyongyang can receive beer vouchers that entitle them to one or two monthly liters of beer at low-end bars. [12] These limitations make beer a beverage primarily for the elite. [21] It is not uncommon for donju , the nouveau riche of Pyongyang, [22] to frequent beer houses. [23] According to the KCNA, there are some 300 newly installed beer taps in Pyongyang, [24] consistent with plans to open 300 pubs announced earlier. [25] [24] There is a "huge number" of bars in Pyongyang where beer is available. [12] In the summer and during festivals, beer tents pop up around Pyongyang. [26]

Tourists can buy beer with foreign currency without the limitations that apply to North Koreans. [21] A beer in international hotels cost about two euros. [27] Although for tourists, according to Josh Thomas, the actual "price of drinking North Korean beer is bowing to a lot of statues of Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il, listening to their version of the Korean war, and eating anything and everything they give you to eat". [15]

In farmers' markets, a bottle of beer costs about 53 North Korean won. [28] Foreign beers such as Heineken, Tiger, Erdinger and Bavarian and are increasingly available. [29] A can of Chinese beer, such as Tsingtao or Harbin, can cost up to 4,000 won on the Jangmadang (grey market). [30] Poor rural people brew their own beer with whatever ingredients they can find; "We found corn flower and hops and made something that came out a weird milky color. At least it was fizzy like beer", one North Korean defector remembers. [7]

Brands

Taedonggang is the top beer brand of North Korea. Taedonggang Beer, North Korea, October 2012 (8196688556).jpg
Taedonggang is the top beer brand of North Korea.

There are at least ten breweries in North Korea. The country has more major breweries than South Korea. [20] Breweries include the Paradise Microbrewery, the Yanggakdo Hotel Microbrewery (of the Yanggakdo International Hotel), and the Taedonggang National Brewery. [15] Several different beers are brewed in the country, [7] "ranging from steam beers, to oatmeal stouts, to chocolate porters and pale ales". [15] According to Josh Thomas, "[f]or a country that commonly experiences famines, North Korea has a surprisingly large range of beers." [15]

Taedonggang, "Taedong River", a golden orange lager, is the top brand. It is considered one of the best quality beers in all of Korea, [7] or even "significantly better" than all other mass-market beers in the rest of Asia. [12] Taedonggang has been exported, even to South Korea, from 2005 until 2007 when Pyongyang increased its price. [9] Other brands include Ryongsong, Pyongyang, Pohak, [31] Ponghak, [32] Rakwon ("Paradise") [6] and Samgak ("Delta"). [33]

Microbreweries

Rakwon Paradise Microbrewery in Pyongyang is one of the many microbreweries of North Korea. Rakwon Paradise Microbrewery (11416315073).jpg
Rakwon Paradise Microbrewery in Pyongyang is one of the many microbreweries of North Korea.

There are many microbreweries in the country. [12] The "surprising microbrewery culture" can be explained with regards to sanctions against North Korea that limit the availability of petrol, thus making distribution of beer a particularly difficult part of the product lifecycle: [15]

"[I]t is a country of microbreweries. The hotel makes their own beer. The bowling alley makes their own beer. The restaurants make their own beer. The national Taedonggang beer was certainly available throughout the entire country, but any location with sufficient space for a microbrewery, they seemed to build one in order to offset any supply chain inefficiencies." [15]

Many bars and hotels brew their own beer. [34] The Koryo Hotel, for instance, houses a microbrewery that serves what is considered "the best dark beer in town". [27] There is also a microbrewery at the Chongjin Tourist Hotel in Chongjin. [35] A microbrewery with Czech-made equipment exists in the Rason Special Economic Zone. [36] Only the Taedonggang Brewing Company could be classified as a "macro" brewery and the rest are, in effect, microbreweries. [12]

Steam beer

There is a North Korean variety of steam beer, an originally American-style of beer brewed in higher than normal temperatures. The North Korean equivalent came about through necessity. Frequent power outages made it impossible to maintain a constant low temperature for brewing. [15] North Korean steam beers are brewed with lager yeast, [5] but for the same reason of unreliable refrigeration, ales are also well-liked. North Korean steam beers are so ubiquitous that it can be said that "the average beer is a steam beer". [15] Since rice  — a staple in Asian beers  — is reserved for food, and barley is not generally used in Korean cooking, there is ample barley to be used in brewing, up to the point of all-barley beers. [12] [5] As a result, beers are darker, fuller and maltier, which is considered a perk over other Asian beers. Necessities have forced North Koreans to make, according to one writer, "more interesting beers than most other countries of the world". [12]

Quality

North Korean beers have low hop content due to taste preferences. [15] North Korean breweries have an abundance of fresh water. Due to the underdevelopment of North Korea's industries, there are no pollution problems with the water. Other ingredients are imported. [7]

North Korean beer, in general, is "relatively good", [14] and tends not to be as light as its South Korean counterparts, [15] whose reputation is of blandness and low quality. [9] The British business weekly The Economist caused an uproar in South Korea when it declared in 2012 that "brewing remains just about the only useful activity at which North Korea beats the South." [9] [37] The article and the success of North Korean microbreweries prompted the South Korean beer industry to reform, including changing the alcohol law to allow microbrewing. [9]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Cantrell II, Phillip A. (2000). "Beer and Ale". In Kiple, Kenneth F.; Ornelas, Kriemhild Coneè (eds.). The Cambridge World History of Food. Vol. 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 625. ISBN   978-0-521-40214-9.
  2. ↑ Lee, Hy-Sang (2001). North Korea: A Strange Socialist Fortress. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 34. ISBN   978-0-275-96917-2.
  3. ↑ Cumings, Bruce (2011). North Korea: Another Country. New York: New Press. p. 196. ISBN   978-1-59558-739-8.
  4. ↑ Lankov 2007, p. 102.
  5. 1 2 3 Thomas, Josh (15 March 2013). "Beer Tour of North Korea: Beer is what unifies (almost) the whole world". Tripoto. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  6. 1 2 Demick, Barbara (2010). Nothing To Envy: Real Lives In North Korea. London: Granta Publications. p. 93. ISBN   978-1-84708-337-1.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Herskovitz, Jon (10 March 2008). "Brewing beer, Communist style, in North Korea". The New York Times . Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  8. ↑ Lam, Lydia (7 February 2018). "North Korea says it has created domestic beer with exclusive brewing technique: Reports". The Straits Times. Retrieved 23 June 2018.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Volodzko, David (11 August 2016). "The Rise of South Korea's Craft Brewing Scene". VICE News. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
  10. 1 2 Evans, Stephen (12 September 2016). "Sneaking a taste of North Korea's finest beer". BBC News . Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  11. ↑ Clarke-Billings, Lucy (15 August 2016). "Inside North Korea's First Beer Festival: Pretzels, Pyongyang Lager and Propaganda". Newsweek . Retrieved 2 August 2022.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Fish, Eric (16 August 2016). "Does North Korea Make the Best Beer in Asia?". Asia Society. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  13. ↑ O'Carroll, Chad (23 July 2017). "North Korea's August beer festival has been canceled, sources say" . NK News . Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  14. 1 2 3 Lankov 2007, p. 101.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Steadman, Ian (29 April 2013). "'Kim Jong-Ale': North Korea's surprising microbrewery culture explored". Wired UK. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  16. ↑ Lankov 2007, p. 100.
  17. ↑ Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health, 2014 (PDF). Geneva: World Health Organization. 2014. p. 303. ISBN   978-92-4-069276-3.
  18. ↑ Yonhap 2002, p. 460.
  19. ↑ Yonhap 2002, p. 461.
  20. 1 2 Tudor & Pearson 2015, p. 65.
  21. 1 2 3 Hokkanen 2013, p. 133.
  22. ↑ Fifield, Anna (15 May 2016). "The rich kids of North Korea savour life in 'Pyonghattan'". The Independent. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  23. ↑ Lankov, Andrei (2014). The Real North Korea: Life and Politics in the Failed Stalinist Utopia . Oxford: Oxford University Press. p.  94. ISBN   978-0-19-939003-8.
  24. 1 2 Hokkanen 2013, p. 134.
  25. ↑ Yonhap 2002, p. 278.
  26. ↑ Willoughby 2014, p. 127.
  27. 1 2 Hokkanen 2013, p. 34.
  28. ↑ Yonhap 2002, p. 377.
  29. ↑ Willoughby 2014, p. 97.
  30. ↑ Tudor & Pearson 2015, p. 27.
  31. ↑ Ford, Glyn; Kwon, Soyoung (2008). North Korea on the brink: struggle for survival. London: Pluto Press. p. 100. ISBN   978-0-7453-2598-9.
  32. ↑ Mike (9 September 2015). "9 surprises from visiting North Korea – Irresponsible Life". Irresponsible Life. Archived from the original on 10 March 2017. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  33. ↑ Melvin, Curtis (24 June 2015). "Samgak Beer". North Korean Economy Watch. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
  34. ↑ Tudor & Pearson 2015, p. 63.
  35. ↑ Willoughby 2014, p. 228.
  36. ↑ Jung, Cho Eun (29 July 2014). "Czech Know-how Brewing in N. Korea". VOA. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  37. ↑ "Brewing in South Korea: Fiery food, boring beer". The Economist. 24 November 2012. Retrieved 4 April 2017.

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Craft beer at the Taedonggang Microbrewery No. 3 in Pyongyang
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