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| Tofu and dongdongju with Ms. Han |
WTF was my knee jerk reaction too. But alas, Koreans (ex-pats?) have finally put some care and thought into the one alcoholic beverage that dominates everyone's lives. Gone are the days of Cass and Hite (probably not true at all), and in with the craft brew. Craft. Brew. Seoul has become a beer mecca in a continent so vastly deprived and behind on the (beer) times. And where was this when we lived there??
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| Dave and Paul and pumpkin and 'Champagne' magkeolli! |
After a minor three hour delay, thank you typhoon Jodi, we arrived in hot humid and moonlit Seoul eager to be reunited with old friends and check out what's been going on since we left, which we naturally assumed was nada. But o contraire. We met Jo, Rene, and Melodi at Phillies, our old stompin ground. Not only were there local micro brews on tap from Craftworks and Magpie, but also lovely brews from the states; Anderson Valley! Jo, Rene, and Melodi quickly caught us up on what's been going down in the 'cheon.
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| Coffee and cats |
Craftworks was the new place in town right before we left. They have a range of craft brews, rotating seasonal ales, and a full menu of Western food to boot.
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| The Booth |
Newer to the hood is The Booth. Run by an Irish (I think) man, the Booth offers up pizzas and local craft brews from local brewers as well as Craftworks. Right next door is Magpie. Although it was closed, as it is every Monday, the day we went, Dave managed to sneak us in to their staff meeting for a quick top off for the road. A) I was super impressed with the staff and owners who are so passionate and knowledgeable not only about their beers, but about the beers of the world. They had 10 or so beers lined up for tasting during their meeting, and B) their beers were amazing. Like aaa-ay-zing. Apparently they can't currently keep up with the demand in Seoul, but I predict within the next few years you'll be seeing these beers outside of Korea.
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| Our amazing and longtime friends, Jo and Luke |
More about Magpie. It started as a hobby between beer enthusiasts. They eventually began brewing in a Kyungridan basement where people would pop in and query them for a taste. People began offering money for said taste. A brewery cum bar was born.
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| Jo! and sake |
In the 7 minutes we stood chatting with the staff, no less than 3 different groups of people tried to come in for a beer. I smell great success for these birds.
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| Canadian beer flight |
Next up we hit up the Canadian bar (I totally forget the name!) for a flight of Canadian craft brews, which they exclusively import. The beers were all very tasty, the boozy Belgian style ale stuck out for me along with the Weizen.
We rounded up our beer crawl through HBC/Kyungridan/Itaewon with stop at Bull and Barrel for 5,000 won burgers and import beers. I should also note Itaewon newbie, Rielly's Taphouse, also makes some pretty great beers themselves. This is not the Korea I left.
Dave also took us to our favorite Haebongcheon magkeolli bar, H, for some really interesting and delicious magkeollis. Magkeolli is a Korean rice wine with a strange almost chalky texture that tends to offend most Western palates. After a few weeks and some willfull drinking, you'll be hooked. And it's only ~$1-2 usd at any convenience store. Anyway, Dave introduced us to hobak (pumpkin) and Champagne magkeolli. The latter is made using the same yeast used for making Champagne. This was a bit strange and strong, but seemed perfectly suited for our 2am pajeon pairing. H seriously has the BEST haemul pajeon I have ever had.
From what I understand, pretty immediately after we left the import tariffs for beer and wine were dramatically lowered. But, of course.
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| Ms. Han and I <3 |
Other than the new beer craze and influx of Western restaurants, good old Seoul seems pretty much the same. We enjoyed our share of galbi, catching up with Chee, Namsan climbing, sake with Joe AC, grilled octopus, cat cafes, staying out til 4am, Ms. Han, and of course, beers.
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| Suzi B. 2-C |
On our final evening Suzi, friend since 1st grade, and her husband Brian came up to Seoul for the night. It had been 3 years since the last time I'd seen them, and it felt like just yesterday. As it did with everyone in Seoul, actually. Strange how life can pull and push us so far, but in the end, we have a shared history and story which never really stops. It's like War and Peace;you may be introduced to a character and not see him for 400 pages, but it doesn't mean he's out of the book. PS don't waste your time with War and Peace unless you're really familiar with Russian names and nicknames. My god.
Of all of our old friends still kicking it Gagnam style, the resounding message conveyed was that Seoul is much more livable than even just 2 years ago. We're not running back to Seoul, but it's always a comfort knowing she's still there.
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