Professional's Guide to Drinking Soju in Seoul
강남클럽
Finest bars in Gangnam. From the fanciest bars to warm izakayas. The best bars in Gangnam offer a wide option.
Expert's Guide to Drinking Soju in Seoul:
Soju is Korea's most popular alcohol. You'll discover it all over from corner store to expensive restaurants. But "soju bars" are rare. Here's your guide to Korean drinking culture, and where you can find soju in Seoul. Julia Mellor has actually made it her objective to bring traditional Korean liquors into the worldwide spotlight. She has studied conventional fermentation approaches at some of the country's best-known institutes, dealt with artisanal breweries, and got a fly-on-the-wall perspective of the country's sool (the Korean word for "alcohol") industry. She's also a co-founder of The Sool Company, a company promoting conventional Korean alcohols, consisting of soju.
"The green bottle [mass-produced, business soju] is extremely renowned to Korea. Everyone thinks that it's the most standard representation of Korean alcohol, however it's actually not," she states. "The green bottle was just presented to Korea in the 1960s when there was a rice famine throughout the Korean War." If you go back to more conventional distillation designs, and there's a whole world of sojus out there-- if you know where to find them.
In Seoul, soju is everywhere. But finding more "standard" styles isn't frequently as easy as going to a bar; in fact, the principle of a "soju bar" is relatively alien to most Koreans. You 'd be hard-pressed to discover one in the South Korean capital, Mellor explains. There are 2 essential reasons that.
First of all, Koreans frequently drink in an extremely various way to Westerners. Soju is drunk throughout the night and is typically coupled with food in a dining establishment. Mellor discusses. "It's not actually selected for its quality ... It's essentially the channel to learn more about someone." Second of all, it's not everything about soju. Korea is home to a host of other alcohols-- in specific, makgeolli and cheongju, the latter of which was once the chosen beverage of the royal court. These beverages are less well-known abroad; they are harder to export, as they're drunk fresh and have a much shorter life span.
For an excellent quality soju experience, you'll want to hit the traditional alcohol bars. They're all over Seoul, and they'll normally serve the complete series of Korean liquors, consisting of soju, makgeolli, takju and cheongju. Mellor notes that "the challenge is not where to go. The difficulty is what to purchase". Soju is not strictly defined, indicating that it has lots of variations. Typically it's made through rice fermentation. However mass-produced sojus usually use another starch such as sweet potato-- a hangover from the Korean War, when lacks caused the government to ban using rice in liquor production. If you're just wanting to get intoxicated, then you can't go wrong with mass-produced, green-bottle soju; mix it with beer (a combination called so-maek) if you require to take the edge off.
Finest bars in Gangnam. From the fanciest bars to warm izakayas. The best bars in Gangnam offer a wide option.
Expert's Guide to Drinking Soju in Seoul:
Soju is Korea's most popular alcohol. You'll discover it all over from corner store to expensive restaurants. But "soju bars" are rare. Here's your guide to Korean drinking culture, and where you can find soju in Seoul. Julia Mellor has actually made it her objective to bring traditional Korean liquors into the worldwide spotlight. She has studied conventional fermentation approaches at some of the country's best-known institutes, dealt with artisanal breweries, and got a fly-on-the-wall perspective of the country's sool (the Korean word for "alcohol") industry. She's also a co-founder of The Sool Company, a company promoting conventional Korean alcohols, consisting of soju.
"The green bottle [mass-produced, business soju] is extremely renowned to Korea. Everyone thinks that it's the most standard representation of Korean alcohol, however it's actually not," she states. "The green bottle was just presented to Korea in the 1960s when there was a rice famine throughout the Korean War." If you go back to more conventional distillation designs, and there's a whole world of sojus out there-- if you know where to find them.
In Seoul, soju is everywhere. But finding more "standard" styles isn't frequently as easy as going to a bar; in fact, the principle of a "soju bar" is relatively alien to most Koreans. You 'd be hard-pressed to discover one in the South Korean capital, Mellor explains. There are 2 essential reasons that.
First of all, Koreans frequently drink in an extremely various way to Westerners. Soju is drunk throughout the night and is typically coupled with food in a dining establishment. Mellor discusses. "It's not actually selected for its quality ... It's essentially the channel to learn more about someone." Second of all, it's not everything about soju. Korea is home to a host of other alcohols-- in specific, makgeolli and cheongju, the latter of which was once the chosen beverage of the royal court. These beverages are less well-known abroad; they are harder to export, as they're drunk fresh and have a much shorter life span.
For an excellent quality soju experience, you'll want to hit the traditional alcohol bars. They're all over Seoul, and they'll normally serve the complete series of Korean liquors, consisting of soju, makgeolli, takju and cheongju. Mellor notes that "the challenge is not where to go. The difficulty is what to purchase". Soju is not strictly defined, indicating that it has lots of variations. Typically it's made through rice fermentation. However mass-produced sojus usually use another starch such as sweet potato-- a hangover from the Korean War, when lacks caused the government to ban using rice in liquor production. If you're just wanting to get intoxicated, then you can't go wrong with mass-produced, green-bottle soju; mix it with beer (a combination called so-maek) if you require to take the edge off.
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