How the milky rice wine once relegated to countryside shacks became a superstar cocktail.
story and photograph by Namju Cho
Makgeolli, a milky Korean rice wine once derided as “the peasants’ drink,” has recently skyrocketed to superstardom, complete with premium brands, jellybean-colored makgeolli cocktails and even makgeolli ice-cream served in some fancy restaurants in Seoul.
Why the comeback? It tastes good, is allegedly good for you, and there’s no shortage of savvy marketers touting all its desirable virtues. Koreans have always been obsessed with all things healthy, and alcoholic drinks are no exception. The reason: If you’re going to have a drink, why not go for one that’s packed with fiber, lactic acid and vitamins, not to mention less damaging to your liver? Another appeal is its low alcoholic content of about 6 to 8 percent, compared with 22 percent for soju and about 14 percent for wine.
“The Makgeolli War is On” declared a recent headline in the Daily Ilgan Plus, a Korean-language newspaper, noting the steep competition in the U.S. market, with one brand debuting a 750-ml bottle for 99 cents, compared with about $3.99 for other brands.
It’s hard to believe that the drink relegated to countryside shacks during my college days at Yonsei University has climbed to such heights. In the myriad bars lining the main strip facing our Seoul campus, we usually drank beer, soju or some combination of the two. Makgeolli was the decidedly uncool drink consumed by our grungy rivals at Korea University. Urban legend had it that freshmen there were forced to drink makgeolli from an upper classman’s shoe as part of initiation.
At the time, there was nothing to like about this beverage. It tasted like putrid milk and had an unpleasant, tangy odor. Only by munching on thick piles of dense and grease-coated mung bean pancakes could this drink be downed. Fast forward to the present. I see aisles of fancy makgeolli bottles in Korean markets. Some of the varieties are infused with black beans or a fragrant root called deodeok, and youngsters in Koreatown’s retro bars seek out these new and improved versions of the drink. Strawberry makgeolli, anyone?
Also called takju in Korean, makgeolli derives its name from the way it’s made, by liberally (“mak”) filtering (“georuda”) the fermented liquid. Besides rice and yeast, the key ingredient to makgeolli is a fermenting agent called nuruk, which is made from wheat. Boasting a history dating back to the 10th-century Goryeo Dynasty, the rice drink has over the years been diluted or, in some cases, had its ingredients replaced with cheap imported flour or corn because of grain shortages and commercial vendors who didn’t focus on quality. As Korea struggled to regain its economic footing after the Korean War, the government banned the manufacturing of pure grain liquors in 1965, according to the book, Korean Food Odyssey. Home brewers and small shops that made some of the best quality makgeolli shut down. Soon enough, Koreans began to shun makgeolli that no longer tasted like the real thing.
Today, not only do some manufacturers stick to rice as the main ingredient, but they also vary the type used, such as black rice or the year’s first crop of rice called hepssal for a fresher taste.
Other “draft” makgeollis offer unfiltered, unpasteurized varieties claiming to have a “cleaner” finish. I myself was surprised at how good the new versions tasted and how the drink projected its many dimensions of flavor depending on what I ate with it, going from toasty and sweet one time to tangy and refreshing another.
However you drink it, makgeolli is back in a big way. It’s only a matter of time before mixologists in mainstream America take a swig of this delicious and versatile drink.
