Tag: Beer

  • A Peek Inside the Secret British Embassy Pub

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    I had the privilege Friday evening to spend a short but glorious evening at the pub located in the basement of the British Embassy in Seoul. It’s closed to the public, but if you know someone you can get your name on the list. It’s only open on Fridays unless there’s a British holiday on a Friday, where it’s moved to Thursday. Embassy staff man the bar. I hear that the diplomats themselves sometimes pour the pints back there.

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    Inside is a who’s who of the Seoul community. I got to see some folks that I only see at big functions. I also got to meet a couple of people who are legends in my mind, particularly Tom Coyner, author of Mastering Business in Korea.

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    I subscribe to Tom’s email list, the Korea Economic Reader. He’s almost always dead on with his analyses of North Korea and Korean politics.

    Back to the pub.

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    It was certainly my kind of atmosphere. Dark, not too loud but great conversation. Great selection of beers, ales and spirits. The pub grub changes each week. That night it was meat pies and sausages from Gavin’s. The crusts were firm but perfectly matched my Guinness. Filled up on those before heading home.

  • Ready for some Good Beer?

    Homebrew Korea SMaSH Poster

    We’re getting closer to the event, so we’d better do some more plugging. Our friends at Homebrew Korea will be holding a “Smash-off” on June 12th at the Gecko’s in Jukjeon. It’s a bit of a homebrewing competition. Even if you don’t have a horse in the race, it’s a great chance to try some beer with actual flavor and a little head (yeah, yeah, feel free to insert your own joke). The other purpose of this event and of Homebrew Korea is to show all of us that we don’t have to settle for watery beer and expensive imports. We can just as well make our own. HBK has an active message board to help you out.

    In other beer talk, The Korea Herald recently posted an article on the five best beers north of the river in Seoul. Rob Titley of HBK was quoted in the article. Spoiler alert: a well-known ZenKimchi favorite was the winner.

  • Another History of Beer in Korea

    Here we go again with the “Korean beer sucks” comments from folks who think that long-neck Buds are fine drinkin’. Hey, I’m posting this for historical curiosity. A year ago, the Joonang Daily came out with a piece detailing the history of Korean brewers. Professor Andrei Lankov of Kookmin University has written an article in The Korea Times about the early days of beer in Korea from an oddity in a bottle at a diplomatic ceremony to the birth of hofs and its golden celebrity status to its current decline in “well-being” culture.