CH-CH-CH-CHANGES A third year of the blog (THIRD!) has come and gone, making it time for the obligatory anniversary post. You may have noticed this year’s post is coming a couple weeks late as there has been a big development in my life: I’ve left Korea and returned to my native desert! It’s a sad…
This is my second (or is it third?) stab at making Seoktanju, and if you remember from my post Homebrew #06, you know that I haven’t had a good track record with this recipe. A pichia yeast infestation forced me to pitch four liters of sool last go around. It was an unquantifiable melange of…
Two years ago I stopped by a corner store in my neighborhood and and bought a weird, plastic bottle of booze. After a few bemusing sips, I thought, “I need to remember this makgeolli so I never, ever make the mistake of buying it again.” Thus, Takjoo Journals was born! But, I am grateful for this bad bottle because it has led me to…
Not only is Beobju fun to say but the translation is also pretty stellar: Beobju literally means Law Booze. The most famous example of this by-the-book tipple is Kyodong Beobju, which comes in a ceramic bottle decorated with an iconic blue crane. According to their website, their family recipe goes back to the early 17th century!…
If you’re wondering what Seoktanju (석탄주) tastes like, look no further than the modern-day expert, Midam Brewery. I was fortunate enough to meet Mrs. Midam and try her brews at the 2016 Wines & Spirits Expo. As she poured me a cup of her delicious Songhwa Takju, I timidly said that I was brewing Seoktanju. She asked me how…
For presenting itself as blue collar, beer can be awfully snobby. Sure, beer can be your average pilsner or lager, but look at all the ways it shows off: porters, IPAs, imperial IPAs, dubbels, tripels, bocks, saisons, sessions, sours, stouts, weizens, dunkelweizens… All right, already. We get it, beer! Well, wonju is no slouch either. There are a ton…
As makgeolli pushers try to reach a younger, hipper demographic, you see a lot of joomak offering different types of fruit makgeolli. But, it’d be a stretch to call these infusions. They’re more like the caramel macchiato frappuccinos of the makgeolli world: concoctions of market makgeolli blended with ice shavings and fruit (if your lucky) or…
The first time I told people I had made Hwanggeumju, a Korean person asked me if I had made the name up. Nope, it’s the real name. Translated it basically means Yellow-Golden Wine; I would probably call it Ambrosia as it is easily the best recipe I’ve ever made. Good thing because it’s probably the most labor…
What better way to start the new year than to learn something new, like how to brew makgeolli! Jisung Chun will be leading two makgeolli brewing workshops in the lovely state of New York. According to the invites, Jisung has “worked as an executive manager of a restaurant that specializes in Korean food and drinks in Seoul.”…
Today is the big day: Takjoo Journals turns one year old! I have to say that I feel pretty good about this accomplishment. I never tried my hand at blogging before this because I didn’t have anything that I was passionate enough to write about, or, if I was passionate enough (Korean baseball!), someone was…
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