The Beer's the Thing

     Let's talk Korean beer (this won't be a long post, I can assure you). Most of you know how much I love the stuff--beer, that is, not Korean beer in particular. And most of you know how much I like variety when it comes to beer. So I am rather sad to say, although I knew this coming over, that I'm pretty sure I've tried just about everything Korea has to offer and I've been here just three weeks!
     Now, that's not to say that there might not be some small brewery somewhere in the mountains that serves some really good beer on premises. But as far as getting anything good at the local grocery store....I think I'm outta luck.
     The beer here is basically all light lagers--I won't even go so far as to call them pilsners as that would do good European pilsners an injustice. Imagine a world in which there was only Budweiser, Coors, and Miller and you are are still slightly, and I do mean ever so slightly, better off than I am here in Korea.

In my opinion so far, this is the worst of the worst.

Not very good either. But the big bottles are kinda nice. And everything I've posted here comes in the different sizes. 

I believe OB stands for Original Brewery. This one is roughly on par with a Coors. Have to taste them together to decide which one is better though.

This has been my beer of choice so far. It's not something I would buy in the states, but it'll do for now.

     There are no IPAs, no stouts, no ambers, no pale ales, no reds, no porters. There is no variety. There is no hop aroma when you open a bottle. There is no flavor when you pour it down. There is only light fizzy yellow boring lager. And the beer labels seem to enjoy words like "Fresh" or "Clean" which a true beer lover knows mean "Don't drink this beer. This beer has nothing you will remember." I don't want fresh beer. I don't want it old either but fresh is not really a redeeming quality. And clean?! What does that mean? I like my apartment clean. I like my clothes to be clean. But my beer?! No. That should have flavor. Clean means without flavor when it comes to beer.

     In Japan, I had a hard time, too, when it came to the beer. Asahi, Kirin, and Sapporo were the choices, but at least they were high quality boring lagers. The beer in Korea is not even on that level. And in Japan, there was something called nihonshu (sake), which almost made up for the lack of quality beer. But here in Korea, the drink of choice is something called soju. And let's just say that soju is like a watered down vodka. I'll write more about soju if and when I learn more about and try more of the stuff, but my initial reaction to it isn't so good.

     So anyway, the food is good, the girls are pretty, the streets are busy, but the beer is.......well, I guess you get the idea.