South Korean milky rice wine makes comeback
Source: Agencies |
November 4, 2009, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
SOUTH Korea makes no secret of its desire to see its often fiery cuisine appreciated by a wider international audience. But if recent signs are anything to go by, it may have more luck with the local firewater.
Makgeolli, a milky rice wine traditionally a staple of the rural poor, is now winning converts among tourists and fashion-conscious youth.
Made by fermenting boiled rice and water, standard makgeolli has a light, sweet taste, a chalky texture and an alcohol content of only around 6 percent.
But it's packing a significant punch in terms of export growth, with overseas sales jumping 52 percent year-on-year in 2008 and a further 13 percent to top US$2 million in the first half of this year, led by rising appetite for the beverage in neighboring Japan.
After its share of South Korea's nearly US$8 billion annual alcohol market slid to under 4 percent in recent decades, the drink has been reborn at home, thanks to a growing number of brewers such as Kooksoondang making upscale versions.
Kooksoondang CEO Bae Jung-ho admitted makgeolli suffered from a "cheap image," with quality slipping in the 1960s when a poverty-stricken South Korea diverted rice stocks away from brewers, who turned to lower-cost substitutes and chemicals that sealed the wine's headache-inducing reputation.
But now, Bae says, it's being recognized as a quality product.
Despite the shaky state of the economy, Kooksoondang, which touts relatively expensive varieties using high-grade rice, has seen its makgeolli revenues surge 20-fold so far this year, while Bae estimates the domestic makgeolli market has grown 50 percent.
Makgeolli, a milky rice wine traditionally a staple of the rural poor, is now winning converts among tourists and fashion-conscious youth.
Made by fermenting boiled rice and water, standard makgeolli has a light, sweet taste, a chalky texture and an alcohol content of only around 6 percent.
But it's packing a significant punch in terms of export growth, with overseas sales jumping 52 percent year-on-year in 2008 and a further 13 percent to top US$2 million in the first half of this year, led by rising appetite for the beverage in neighboring Japan.
After its share of South Korea's nearly US$8 billion annual alcohol market slid to under 4 percent in recent decades, the drink has been reborn at home, thanks to a growing number of brewers such as Kooksoondang making upscale versions.
Kooksoondang CEO Bae Jung-ho admitted makgeolli suffered from a "cheap image," with quality slipping in the 1960s when a poverty-stricken South Korea diverted rice stocks away from brewers, who turned to lower-cost substitutes and chemicals that sealed the wine's headache-inducing reputation.
But now, Bae says, it's being recognized as a quality product.
Despite the shaky state of the economy, Kooksoondang, which touts relatively expensive varieties using high-grade rice, has seen its makgeolli revenues surge 20-fold so far this year, while Bae estimates the domestic makgeolli market has grown 50 percent.
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