The Rise of the Korean Rice Wine
South Korea’s most popular alcoholic beverage is making a comeback among the young set when it used to be drank by the much older generation and by farmers.
The slightly sweet beverage is native to Korea that grows rice and wheat in abundance. Nuruk, a Korean fermentation starter, is added to rice or wheat, yeast and water.
Containing only 6 to 8% alcohol by volume, the milky off-white color drink was the filling substitute for food of a then impoverished nation.
When Korea started to modernize in the late 80s and beer, wine and imported whisky became popular, makgeolli almost disappeared, except among the poor rural folks. In 2010, an upbeat, trendy makgeolli bar, and later a brewery, appeared in Seoul and became an instant hit.
Kores’s oldest beverage have known health benefits. It is healthy alcohol that contains lactic acid bacteria and dietary fiber, good for the elderly. It also has squalene, famous as a deterrent to cancer growth, and farnesol with its antitumor properties.
It also lays claim to a variety of other health and wellness issues, such as it being a hangover relief, a fatigue-remover, a skin-whitening and regeneration drink, and an antioxidant. In other words, rice wine makes you feel good inside out.
Because of its lower alcohol content, more women find their Korean rice wine less harsh than other liquors. Makgeolli became fancier all the more as it goes well with Korean bar foods. Entertainment personalities even endorse the drink which created a wider following among fans.
Now there are many different types and flavors of makgeolli found all over Korea, in both high-and low-end versions. Korean restaurants in many parts of the world have this drink on their beverage list. Hence is the amazing journey of a once lowly alcohol drink.
Feeling Good with Makgeolli in Lynnwood
If you’re in Lynnwood, come over and dine Korean at Arirang Korean Barbeque and test your mettle with our makgeolli. Korean rice wine goes well with all our barbeque selections. Enjoy!