The Makgeolli Diaries

     If you live in Korea and are a drinker, you will quickly learn that there isn't much in the way of beer or wine here. The beer is disappointing (just weak lagers) and the wine is overpriced; I've seen Yellow Tail, a mediocre wine that you can find in the US for about $6-8 a bottle, for about $20 a bottle here. Instead, the locals tend to drink a lot of soju and makgeolli (pronounced /mah-koh-lee/) and it is the latter that I wish to address here.

     Makgeolli is a fermented rice drink--this is Asia after all--and is 6-8% alcohol by volume, much like a good beer. For some reason, and I think it's ignorance and laziness, all non-distilled Asian alcoholic drinks, or at least all the ones I know of, are always referred to as "rice wine". This name, however, is a misnomer because by definition wine is the fermented juice of a fruit and, as you know, in our everyday vernacular, wine is the fermented juice of grapes. Meanwhile, the definition of beer is any alcoholic drink that comes from fermented grain. This includes barley, wheat, and....rice. Technically speaking then, makgeolli, like Japanese sake, is more beer than it is wine.

Different brands of makgeolli. I have yet to see them all, much less try them all.

    But semantics aside, makgeolli (I've also seen it spelled makkoli) is a fairly simple drink. It's just rice, water, and yeast. And to make it, you basically just let the rice sit in water, add yeast, and a few days later you have the sweet Korean nectar (yes, I oversimplified the process, but not by much). At that point, though, it's about 16% alcohol and for some reason, Koreans water it down to a milder level. If I make it, and I am seriously considering this, I'm going to try it first before the watering down to see what it takes like.
     I first had the drink back in San Jose when Ami mentioned it one day. I think we were talking about soju (the distilled liquor over here) when she asked me if I'd ever had it. Being a guy that thinks no alcoholic beverage should go untried, we took off for the local Korean market and she showed it to me. So I bought a bottle and we went back to her place where I promptly poured myself a glass.
     Now, I should probably qualify this by saying that perhaps no area in the world, and I'm really just guessing here, but it's quite possible that no area in the world has quite the selection of alcohol choices as does California--or maybe I mean most of America. But the beer and wine selection in California is truly awesome. I've been to Japan, England, Holland, France, Panama and now Korea and even Thailand a month ago, and none of these countries even comes close. Well, maybe England did but most pubs that I visited there had about four beers on draft (or draught if you prefer) compared to the usual 6-10 that you find in a modest California pub. I've also visited grocery stores in most of the above mentioned countries and was lucky to find more than, say, five kinds of beer. In Cali, you walk into a grocery store and the decision isn't easy because there are probably 20 kinds of beer. And if you go to BevMo....Well, let's just say that I have easily spent more time there making my beer choice there than I ever have looking for new clothes. What I'm getting at here is that with all the selection that you get in Cali, you end up finding some damn good stuff.
     Which brings me back to my first taste of makgeolli. I have to admit that while it was good, it wasn't like the first taste of Guinness I had when I was about 20, or the first time I had a Lagunitas brew, or the first time I tried an IPA. On those occasions (especially the Guinness experience which I remember quite vividly),  I had one of those moments when you out loud claim a deity as your own and wonder how it is that you've lived without whatever it is you are currently enjoying. No, my first sip of makgeolli wasn't a transcendental experience, but I did finish the bottle thinking that I'd have to try more of the stuff and as many kinds as possible.
     So here I am, in Korea, and surrounded by the stuff. I've had probably about six different brands and basically, they are all the same. They certainly all look the same with an unfiltered whiteness--if you glanced at a glass you could be forgiven for thinking it was milk. But when you drink one next to another, you do indeed taste a difference. Some are sweeter than others. Some have a certain amount of a sour flavor while others have less of it. Some appear to have a little more carbonation than others. But basically, they are all the same. And I'm starting to enjoy them more and more. And at about $1.50 for a 750ml (25oz) bottle, you can have a few without the ol' wife telling you you're spending too much money on alcohol.