South Korea makes no secret of its desire to see its often fiery cuisine appreciated by a wider international audience. But if recent signs are anything to go by, it might have more luck with the local firewater.
Makgeolli, a milky rice wine traditionally a staple of the rural poor, is now winning converts among tourists and fashion-conscious youth.
Made by fermenting boiled rice and water, standard makgeolli has a light, sweet taste, a chalky texture and an alcohol content of only about 6 per cent. But it's packing a significant punch in terms of export growth, with overseas sales jumping 52 per cent year on year last year and a further 13 per cent to top US$2 million in the first half of this year, led by rising appetite for the beverage in neighbouring Japan, according to government data.
After seeing its share of South Korea's nearly US$8 billion annual alcohol market slide to under 4 per cent in recent decades, the drink has also been reborn at home, thanks to a growing number of brewers, such as Kooksoondang, making upscale versions.
Kooksoondang chief executive Bae Jung-ho says makgeolli suffered from a "cheap image", with quality slipping in the 1960s when a poverty-stricken South Korea diverted rice stocks away from brewers, who turned to lower-cost substitutes and chemicals that sealed the wine's headache-inducing reputation.
But now, Bae says, it is being recognised as a quality product.
Despite the shaky state of the economy, Kooksoondang, which touts relatively expensive varieties made from high-grade rice, has seen its makgeolli revenues surge 20-fold so far this year, while Bae estimates the domestic makgeolli market has grown 50 per cent.
Makgeolli has moved from farms and backstreet taverns to upmarket retailers such as Lotte Department Store, which sells berry and ginseng-infused variants.
Asiana Airlines, the country's No2 carrier, has started to serve makgeolli on some international routes and it has even made the menus at five-star hotels, where it's typically sold at 15,000 won (HK$99) a bottle, 10 times the cost of some popular varieties.
More importantly, it's finding traction with a new generation. At Dduktak, a makgeolli-themed bar in Seoul's busy Konkuk University district, patrons huddle over colourful cocktails that blend the wine into milkshake-like concoctions with everything from espresso beans to lemongrass.
Yoon Jin-won, owner of the Dduktak franchise and head of the Korea Liquor Culture Institute, says that he came up with the cocktails "to introduce makgeolli to a younger crowd".
Makgeolli-based beverages now account for half of the revenues from his 15 outlets, which are facing competition from a slew of upstart traditional pubs, including Kooksoondang's Baeksaeju Maul chain, which has doubled in size in the past year.
But can the makgeolli buzz be sustained?
Bae says there are inherent problems with attempts to broaden the export market: the tax environment is unfavourable, refrigeration expensive and even in canned form the drink has a maximum shelf life of a couple of months.
Yoon, meanwhile, thinks a "dangerous" level of competition may cause quality control issues.
A spokesman for the agriculture ministry says the government has plans to support the industry, including providing breweries with subsidised rice and funding over the next five years to promote exports and upgrade production facilities.
Even without government help, its backers believe makgeolli will continue to flourish.
Yoon says the beverage, much like Korea itself, has survived everything from Japanese occupation to post-war scarcity and an onslaught of exotic imports.
"It might not be that important globally yet, but it's a drink that can tell the story of Korea, that has a bit of the country's sadness and happiness," says Yoon. "And that's a story we have to tell the world."
Reuters
