Busan, Ulsan and Pohang

So at the end of April and beginning of May in Japan we have a series of national holidays which gave me over a week off and I decided to go explore the Korean Beer Scene. I decided to land in Busan and work my way North towards Seoul with some stops  in Ulsan and Pohang.

Busan

I landed in Busan and grabbed a bus to Gwangalli Beach which is the main center for craft beer in town.

Gwangalli Beach Area

6 Pack Tap House & Bottle Shop

Located on the same street as Galmegi Brewery & Owl & Pussycat Bottleshop is this taproom with a wall of to go bottles and a big standing bar that serves pints and samples at reasonable prices. Friendly staff who seem to know their beers and taps. The beer was in good shape and tasted nice while the to-go bottles have a few beers on special available which is nice.

Galmegi Brewery

I walked in here planning to try out their beers and then head out for dinner. The next thing I knew I was in an all night drinking session/bottle share with the brewers and their homebrewing friends. A great selection of some of the mose experimental and tasty craft beers made in Korea. I loved their Moonrise Pale Ale which is exactly what I want from an APA hoppy and flavorful but not that bitter. 

The brewers and staff are really great guys and it's a fantastic space: the first floor houses the brewery and a taproom with a half-dozen high tables. The second floor has regular tables and more taps(with the same beers as the first floor). The tasting set is a great value and the burgers looked great. A must visit in Busan and the heart of the craft brewing scene here. 

2nd floor

2nd floor

Owl & Pussycat Bottleshop

This is agreat looking bottle shop in the heart of Gwangalli across the street from Galmegi Brewing. The staff speak English and are really into beer. Tons of imports at somewhat high prices for Japan but average for South Korea. A really good selection and they often do deals like buy 2 bottles get a glass which is fun. The owner Antonio's opening a taproom with 25 taps soo which will be nice. One of the best bottle shops in the Korean peninsula with warm knowledgeable service.

Gwangan Taphouse

Around the corner from Galmegi Brewing on the main drag that runs from Geumnyeonsan Station to the beach. This used to be Galmegi's Pub but recently got renovated and relaunched as the Gwangan Taphouse as locals kept saying "Meet me at Galmegi" but half would wind up at the brewery and half at the pub!

The new taphouse has 25 taps including a wide range of Galmegi beers, some from elsewhere in Korea and a good selection of imports. A small wood-paneled space with a beach view from some seats. Good prices and friendly service who know and respect beer. Plus the guys from Galmegi often help out behind the bar so you may just be talking to the guy who brewed your beer which is cool. It's small but a good hang out spot.

There are also some places with more generic taps like the Thirsty Monk and some small spots that have rebranded Ka-Brew beers in the backs streets near the beach. Not too far away by subway is...

Centum Area

Shinsegae

I came to this area to check out the Busan Museum of Art (free for permanent exhibits) and found a mammoth convention center and across the street a huge Homeplus Supercenter and what's reputed to be the biggest Shinsegae Department store in the world. I mention these here as they're one of the few places to find domestic craft beer in Busan. You can find bottles of beer from Korea Craft Brewery at both places. Homeplus has ARK beers for less money while Shinsegae has the ARK beers at higher prices as well as the Hitachino Nest Korea JJ Ale. Worth a stop to get some souvenirs.

The selection at Homeplus

Haeundae Area

The Booth

Raspberry Stout

The bar itself is funky  with an industrial feel. Tables made of pallets, oil drums as tables, graffiti covered walls (I dug the Homer Simpson) nice little balcony for smokers. Great salty sea breeze. Service was subpar as I got the feeling they felt too cool to serve you & more interested in their own concerns than in doing their jobs. I left the fairly empty bar after one pint.

Oncheonjang Area

Hurshimchung Brau Brewery

To get there go out exit 4 or 5 at Oncheonjang station and use the overhead crosswalk then walk through the shopping center to the far escalor & go down to street level you should come out near a Coffee Bean. Turn left and go a few blocks then grab a right. This gets you to the hot spring + brewery. Past the hotel there is a local market and an outdoor foothbath. It's off the beaten track but is worth a visit for the hot spring alone, add in a German Style Brewpub and it's a can't miss Busan attraction for beer lovers.

  
The brewpub is massive with a stage for shows, dance area and hundreds of tables. The friendly staff wore a leiderhosen type outfit but the banging techno was fairly odd and clashed with the atmosphere. High prices on food though possibly large portions as the dishes seemed meant for sharing. Beers are 6500/24000/36000 won for 500ml/2L/3L. Definitely a place to go with friends to share beers & food. Visiting solo and hungover I tried the weizen, decent, then headed on to explore a new area.

The Weizen

Seomyeon Area

This area has a typical downtown Korean type atmosphere and I don't think I saw any other foreigners at all. There used to be a few German style brewpubs around here: Judy's Nine Brau, Who? Brewery, etc. but I think most have closed while a few new places opened:

Levee Brewing Company

Levee brewing can be found using their map on Facebook it is in the backstreets near Seomyeon Station  on the first floor of the BZ Hotel. The actual brewery/brewpub is in Suwon but this taproom's a convenient place to try their beers. The menu is simple and consists of 3 beers plus 3 food dishes: fries, baked potato & jerky. The staff kindly let me have samples of the beers so I could make an educated choice. I ordered their Irish double Stout which was the nicest one. 6 seats at the bar plus seating for a further 30 at various tables, also some tables at a terrace out front. I really liked the vibe here, friendly inviting and the open terrace style seating  stirred my Montreal soul. Worth visiting. 

An:nyeong Pub

An actual beer bar that's not pretending to be a taproom or doing anything complicated. They're simply trying to be a straight up bar for local beer enthusiasts with 8 taps & 100+ bottles. It's a five minute walk from Levee in Seomyeon making it easy to visit both - again check FB for directions. Here's a screen shot from my ipod touch I used to get from A (green pin Levee) to B (red pin An:nyeong):

Levee to An:nyeong

The line up is a mix of Korean & international beers with a slight European bent. It's a pretty big place with seating for 30-50 people and a foosball table. Good service and decent prices. Pints in Korea tend to be cheaper than Japan though imports can be pricier. I got to try the Akitu Brewing Camellia IPA here which is brewed in suburban Busan which was nice as I'd heard of it but never saw any of their beers on tap elsewhere.

exterior view

Akitu Camellia IPA

That covers the decent places in Busan, the next day I hopped on a bus and took the hour ride to nearby Ulsan.

Ulsan

This city is home to Whasoo Brewing which used to do contract brewing for a bunch of places and suffered the same rebranding woes as stuff from Ka-Brew but to a lesser extent. They're in the midst of a rebranding effort and as such have yet to establish any kind of web presences as well as being exceptionally cagey about themselves. They've refused to give me their address while they figure out how to officially relaunch. Weird.

Anyways, the purpose of my visit was I'd gotten an invitation to check out the Trevi Brau Haus Brewpub. Conveniently located a 5 minute walk from the intercity bus station, it's dead easy to visit. Their new production brewery however is being built out in the countryside making it less visitor friendly if you don't have a car or a ride.

The brewpub has seating for 300 with an Italian inspired food menu featuring pizzas and a German inspired beer menu. This is massive beer hall is serious about their beer making three solid examples of a weizen, a dunkel and a pilsner. The son of the owner, Chanwoo, speaks Japanese & English. The food is good as are the beers. It was my only stop in Ulsan but I was not disappointed. I look forward to seeing what they do with a production brewery!

I was only in town for a few hours but had a great time, I'll definitely need to visit Ulsan again the next time I visit Busan.

Pohang

OK, I visited this steel town to visit a friend working in town and decided to see if I could track down any places worthy of beer exploration. I stumbled on an old list from the Korean Microbrewery Association which had one place in Pohang. My friend and I decided to check it out on a Saturday night.

Trolling the list for Pohang yielded Pohang Bausen Brau. The exterior and interior evoke a German beer hall, the signage says something about it being Polish inspired, the menu is a mix of Italian and Korean while the band is Filipino singing requests (mostly old cheesy Korean ballads when I was there). Humourously odd to say the least. 

If the beer had been good I would have chuckled and enjoyed the weirdness. The staff were friendly and let me peek into the brewhouse, the place was completely dead early on a Saturday night but our cab driver said it is a popular place. 

Beers are served in 0.5L, 2L & 5L sizes! The two house beers are a pils and a "stout" plus maybe a macro on tap. The pils was passable but the stout was vile, though the staff recommended it and said it was what they were known for in town... We left without finishing our beers and headed to Mekju Changgo down the road.

Mekju Changgo  

means beer warehouse in Korean and is part of a countrywide chain. The Pohang location looks like a big log cabin and is just 1-2 minutes from Bausen Brau. A long wall of fridges along one wall hold beer from around the world but with just Sam Adams as far as craft go. Cheap prices and a fun rowdy crowd of drunks(some lady was chewing out her husband when we were there). Typical Korean bar food and a decent selection for a small city like Pohang, also I get the feeling these kinds of places are a really Korean experience.

I like the self-serve fridge concept, the wide variety of styles and the fact they had appropriate glassware for some belgian beers like the Leffe. Worth popping in to if you ever stumble on one while out on the town in Korea.

The Korean Beer Scene in 2015

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:

Magpie Brewing Co.

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 Brewing

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:

The Hand & Malt

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. 

Bryan Do - Hand & Malt Brewing @ Hopscotch, Gangnam

Other notable breweries/brewpubs/client brewers:

The Table

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.

The Hidden Track

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.

The Four Seasons

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.

Craftbros

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.

Maloney's Brewing Co.

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.

Trevi Brewing

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.

Guarneri Taphouse

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.