When you think of Korean alcohol, one image instantly comes to mind: the green bottle. In just about every Korean show, you will find the main characters indulging in this ubiquitous drink. Sadly, the green bottle which we simply know as soju, is actually a very young, modern-day fabrication. Korean Rice Liquor Sommelier and Soy and Rice Modern Traditions founder Jisung Chun is on a mission to dispel the image of the green bottle soju as the only thing we think about when one says Korean alcohol. “In fact, there are over 2,000 different kinds of alcohol! Even Koreans are not familiar with it,” she says. “If you ask a Korean and ask what is the Korean national drink is, they will answer the green bottle soju. But there is so much more out there.”
Korean alcohol can be divided into makgeolli, takju, yakju, and soju. In one drink, one can actually make makgeolli, yaku, and then soju.
Makgeolli is usually less than 10 percent liquor content and comes in a plastic bottle or container. It is best to drink it from a bowl-size ceramic cup, a tin cup, or even a mug. It can be made from rice or wheat mixed with nuruk, a Korean yeast, and water and looks milky, off-white in color.
Takju, unrefined alcohol, looks just like makgeolli but is higher in alcohol content at 10 to 19 percent. Served in smaller cups, takju has the rice sediments at the bottom, making it cloudy. Once you shake it, it becomes makgeolli.
Jisung relates how women of old like takju. She says, “It’s so thick, you can drink it with a spoon so it does not look at all like you are drinking.”
