Traveling proves that beer is a popular commodity. A thirsty backwoodsman can find a beer in some pretty remote places, and the urbane drinker need not be shy when ordering an ale at a swanky bar. The technology and craft of beer making has permeated most corners of our watery planet. As it turns out, breweries can serve rather small populations and many places around the world have their own local take on the great tradition of beer. Local beer has always been a focus of my travels and tastes, so I came across an intriguing revelation in a conversation with a Chinese friend. I mention that he was Chinese strictly because his experience was one I could only learn of second-hand. My nationality will bar me from tasting the local beers of North Korea for the foreseeable future.
North Korea today, of course, produces Korean staples like makgeolli and soju. North Koreans themselves are also avid home brewers, particularly in the countryside where the dregs of beer mashes are fed to pigs. Since the early 2000s, however, the government has consistently attempted to control this homespun tradition, because it considers it as diverting necessary grain sources to an unnecessary foodstuff (Daily NK). Yet due to the government’s strict import restrictions and the population’s relative poverty, many North Koreans have to brew their own beer if they want to drink any at all.
My friend entertained us with tales of his travels in North Korea with the now imprisoned guide, Michael Spavor (who drank a lot of beer, according to my friend). He described strict monitoring, a hotel on an island, and the use of the US dollar as an informal currency. I was curious, so I asked if North Korea had their own type of beer. The story he told me was far better than I could have asked for.
The most popular beer in North Korea is mass produced in the capital of Pyongyang and is named after the city’s river. Taedonggang brewery began operating in 2002, but the same brewery had operated for 175 years before this in Wiltshire, England. An unlikely and even startling fact, the truth is that North Korea’s most popular beer has British blood. In 2000, Ushers Brewery shut its doors for good and was purchased by Thomas Hardy Brewing and Packaging which self describes as “dedicated to bottling and packaging customers’ own premium brands under confidential contracts” (British Beer and Pub Association). The brewery was then sold to North Korea for 2 million dollars and subsequently disassembled piece by piece by North Korean workers and shipped to Pyongyang for reassembly (Associated Press). The brewery has been producing ever since. Today, the brewery produces two main beers, a lager and a black beer. My friend alleged that these beers were better than any Chinese beer he had tried.
North Korea, as it turns out, has a fairly renowned microbrewery industry as well. Hotels and restaurants that cater to foreigners brew their own beers on the premises. Travel websites will advertise nights spent drinking bottled or draught beers made in house which impress even well-versed beer drinkers. Unfortunately, Americans will be hard pressed to taste a bottle of any of these beers. A Chinese man was arrested in Japan for attempting to smuggle a bottle of Taedonggang into the country (South China Morning Post). The beer’s Facebook page leaves the disclaimer “Due to legal reasons this page does not sell the product in question, which is only available in the DPRK itself.” Getting to North Korea to drink the beer would involve risks to last a lifetime. The costs of obtaining this beer seem to outweigh the 10 minutes of libations it may provide.
That which we cannot have is always the more tantalizing, but the story of beer in North Korea is not always so attractive. Locals likely cannot afford beer that goes for 50 cents a bottle and the government’s campaign to stop home brewing will push North Koreans to less and less safe forms of alcohol consumption. Accounts of North Korea in the 90s paint a grim picture as well. As the country’s economy evaporated, resources became hyper-scarce. Dr. Kim Ji-eun reported the situation: “The hospital was still able to manufacture intravenous fluid, but they didn’t have bottles for it. The patients had to bring their own which were often empty bottles of Chogjin’s most popular beer, Rakwon, or ‘Paradise’” (Demick, 114). Factory made beer still exists in North Korea, but it is safe to say the privileged classes are those who benefit most from it. We read with the taste of irony in our mouths as North Koreans have reportedly been manufacturing illegal moonshine in Qatari labor communities to raise funds for the government (UPI). Come to think of it, drinking Taedonggang is buying alcohol from the North Korean regime as well.
Demick, Barbara. Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea. Spiegel Et Grau, 2015.
“In Japan, One Bottle of North Korean Beer Can Land You in Serious Trouble.” South China Morning Post, 16 July 2019, www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3018629/chinese-man-who-smuggled-one-bottle-north-korean-beer-japan.
Kang Mi Jin, et al. “N. Korean Authorities Crackdown on Homemade Alcohol Production.” Daily NK, 29 Oct. 2020, www.dailynk.com/english/north-korean-authorities-crackdown-homemade-alcohol-production/.
“North Korea Running Moonshine Operations in Qatar, Report Says.” UPI, UPI, 21 Dec. 2016, www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2016/12/21/North-Korea-running-moonshine-operations-in-Qatar-report-says/4021482348932/.
“Taedonggang.” Facebook, www.facebook.com/Taedonggang/.
“Thomas Hardy Brewing & Packaging.” British Beer and Pub Association, beerandpub.com/members/thomas-hardy-brewing-packaging/.
Vintage English Brewery Rebuilt in Pyongyang. Associated Press, 20 Apr. 2004.
The term proof has British origins dating back to the 1500s when alcohol was tested for tax purposes. Strong spirits were levied with an excise tax. To decide which spirits were taxed as strong, the tax man performed a sort of experiment. Booze was poured on a bullet and if it still ignited, then that was proof of the strength of the alcohol.
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