Wow, what a difference a few years can make! Starting a few years ago with basically one contract brewer providing beer to several clients you now find many of these clients moving on to building their own facilities with rumors of up to 30 breweries on the way.
The initial burst had everyone jumping on the bandwagon but with few suppliers you had many confusing & dishonest practices such as stealing recipes, copycat recipes, dishonestly rebranding beers, etc.
It seems like the market is maturing, as regulations continue to loosen, early players have buillt up capital and are now investing in building their own breweries to gain greater control of the brewing process as well as to protect their intellectual property - I.e. their recipes.
Korea seems to be heading into a second phase of more considered craft beer development though information on most production sites are still scant with many having zero web presence(ex: Whasoo Brewing). This makes it difficult for consumers & researchers to know where their beer is coming from.
The refusal of the Great Korean Beer Festival to allow rebranded beers is encouraging the creation of more original recipes which can only be considered a good thing. But you will still find many small bars selling nameless (renamed) craft beer on draft. Most often it is from Ka-Brew(Kapa Brewing) but it is always a good idea to ask "Where do you brew your beer?"
Unfortunately, some places continue to play dumb or give evasive answer though by law kegs must be labelled & they're required to show you them if you ask.
So it is a mixed bag of good and bad news but mostly good in my opinion. The GKBF is spearheading education to people who might not otherwise have tried craft beer but the crowd still tends to be fairly young though balanced between men/women. I even heard from several people Korean women may be in the majority among craft beer drinkers in the country!
Let's look at some breweries. The two breweries who are doing the most exciting things in Korea in my opinion are:
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| Magpie Pub, Noksapyeong |
Magpie was my favorite during my last visit to Seoul and they've managed to pump out beers in a wide range of styles going from a porter, a pale ale & a copper ale to more than a dozen this visit including two Goses. They currently contract brew at the Table but are building a brewery in Jeju.
Galmegi is spreading western style craft beer beyond Seoul with their brewery in the heart of Gwangalli, Busan, just a stone's throw from the beach. They make many styles that are good to great with none that disappoint. I loved their Moonrise Pale Ale.
The most consistent brewery for staple styles, and most Eco-friendly, is:
Owner Bryan Do and his brewmaster Brandon have put together a solid line up of styles from Europe, the UK & the US: Witbier, Weizen, Mocha Stout, Session IPA & ESB.
Consistently good beers are still somewhat rare in Korea so this helps make them stand out. That and the fact that while they do have two bars called Hopscotch in Seoul as well as a brewery taproom they've been a production brewery from the start meaning their distribution in bars is fairly widespread. Plus, they're adding a canning line & looking to export in Asia soon. I look forward to seeing their beers in Japan someday. These guys are definitely pushing the scene forward by showing the Korean market what a craft brewery should be.
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| Bryan Do - Hand & Malt Brewing @ Hopscotch, Gangnam |
Other notable breweries/brewpubs/client brewers:
They have a production brewery in suburban Seoul as well as a brewpub downtown. They make solid beers & contract brew for others. My favorite was their Pale Ale though their Honey Brown is one of their best sellers.
A basement brewpub in Anam, Seoul, that puts out good western style beers & does collaborations with many of the new players in the scene. I liked their IPL while the space reminded me of a brightly-lit Craftworks.
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| The Four Seasons, Itaewon |
Client brewers who contract with Akitu Brewing in Busan, Bavarosa in Bundang and The Table in Ilsan. They have some nice beers and are centrally located in Itaewon the Seoul craft beer hub making them easy to check out. Their Saison and Hoppy Weizen were nice.
Another client brewer with a taproom/bottle shop south of the river near Sinbampo. I've heard good things about their Brat IPA but didn't have a chance to try any of their beers. They contract brew at the Table.
They contract brew at the Hand & Malt under the guidance of Bill Miller the godfather of the Korean craft beer scene who's been instrumental in making recipes for The Booth & Craftworks. The focus is on big hoppy styles. I thoroughly enjoyed their Southie Irish Red.
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| Trevi Brau Haus, Ulsan |
Located down in Ulsan, this brewpub makes three solid German style beers: a Pilsner, a Dunkel and a Weizen. They've built a production brewery in the surrounding countryside and are planning to add a Pale Ale and IPA to the mix as well as begin distribution to bars throughout the peninsula.
Operated by Jang & Craft Brewing Co (JnC), they're the parent company of Herzen Brau apparently, they've launched a production brewery in Sunchang and a taproom in the Dongdaemun Design Plaza that seems to be open 24 hours a day! They make 6 German style beers with all being quite good but their Rauchbier Bamberg being the standout for me.
Earlier entrants in the craft beer scene Craftworks & 7 Brau are still going strong. Craftworks now has several locations throughout Seoul(maybe it is time to open one in a different city?) selling the same beers as a few years ago so it wasn't that exciting to me. 7 Brau now has 2 pubs, one in Yeouido and one in Gangnam plus they've gone from 1 to 6 different beers. All were solid but a bit tame with the hoppiness being more British than American. They've also started bottling but I was unable to find any in shops.
Korea Craft Brewery entered the market to much fanfare as a joint venture with Hitachino Nest from Japan, I didn't really see many kegs of their stuff at any shops but they're one of the only craft breweries in Korea that bottle and can be found at Homeplus or Shinsegae. They seem to be parting ways with Hitachino and are now rebranding their beers as ARK. Putting out the Be High IPA & Hug Me Witbier as well as the Hitachino Nest Korea JJ Ale.
The other joint venture with Brooklyn Brewery in Jeju is also reputedly dead in the water having never even been built... For me the strong point in Korea is the branding, most breweries feature fantastic artwork and labels that put many Japanese craft breweries to shame. However, in some cases it is style over substance with the great names and designs being slapped on to rebranded beer of dubious quality. Still why can't Japanese breweries step up and hire an artist or graphic designer?
Look for a few more detailed blog post in the coming weeks covering all the places I visited while crossing the Korean Peninsula.
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