Korean Sip & Spirit: Ancient Drinks for Modern Tastes

Ottawa’s beautiful Korean Cultural Centre recently hosted an exclusive tasting and Masterclass as an introduction to Korean drinks culture. The tasting featured premium soju, makgeolli and yakju, along with local Korean food. I was privileged to attend this Masterclass, where guests enjoyed an in-depth guided tasting with a curated selection of South Korean wines and spirits, paired with traditional foods from local South Korean restaurants.

The Masterclass was led by Brittany and Tim of SommWise Inc. They are two passionate Ottawa sommeliers who each bring a wealth of experience from different sectors of the beverage industry. Together, they are the expert duo at SommWise, who offer corporate beverage alcohol consulting and education. We tasted eight unique beverages, which were completely new to many of us.

We started the seminar with a welcome wine, King Delaware 4M Rosé, from South Korea. This was the only beverage that was grape-based. It’s a fragrant, semi-sweet Rosé wine made with King Delaware grapes. Medium bodied, fruit forward and satiny in texture, it pairs well with steamed seafood, Korean pancake or stir-fried spicy chicken.

Beverage Highlights:

Jiranjigyo Premium YAKJU
South Korea

This premium, rice-based wine is made in a range of styles, from tart to sweet dessert wine. It is considered to have medicinal properties. It’s crafted from 100% freshly harvested rice and brewed using a unique traditional method with homemade yeast and 100 days of fermentation, followed by 90 days of aging. Jiranjigyo Yakju offers a lovely balance between subtle sweetness and acidity. The aroma is fruity, with melon notes and the rich flavour is balanced, with a grainy, sweet and sour style. It’s made unpasteurized, to preserve the live fermentation cultures. Serve chilled. It pairs well with dishes with sweet soy sauce seasoning, and also with clear broth dishes. With it, we sampled Dotori-muk, made with acorn jelly.
— 15% alcohol

We learned about nuruk, which is the yeast that is used for the fermentation of many Korean beverages. Its source provides the sense of terroir, much as we refer to the location of terroir for grape-based wine.

Pungjeong Sagye Chun CHEONJU
Hwayang Brewery
South Korea

Award-winning Pungjeong-sagye Chu is crafted using only local rice from Cheongju, the world’s oldest rice-growing region. It uses traditional hand-pressed Hyangwon-gok (traditional mung bean nuruk). Unlike modern mass-production methods, it is characterized by slow aging for over 100 days in traditional earthenware, to capture the essence of nature.  It shows fresh fruit and floral fragrances, with notes of pear and apple.
– 15% alcohol

We next tasted three MAKGEOLLI. Makgeolli is Korea’s oldest beverage. Fun fact: it was originally made from surplus rice crops.

Wondermak Original MAKGEOLLI
Toronto

This is an unfiltered, low alcohol rice wine. It has mild vanilla aromas and a silky, creamy texture. It shows the natural sweetness of rice with a subtle acidity. We enjoyed this paired with crispy rice pancakes. Wondermak makes a variety of fruit and herb flavoured Makgeolli, such as blueberry, strawberry and basil.
–8% alcohol

Order Direct at www.wondermak.ca

Ryeo SOJU 40
South Korea

This Soju is made from fermented sweet potatoes. It’s a very popular beverage at all celebrations.  Ryeo 40 exclusively uses sweet potatoes cultivated in the Yeoju region, where the climate and soil provide optimal conditions for growing sweet potatoes, resulting in rich flavours and aromas. This Soju has a full, rich, silky texture and a light peppery scent. A traditional atmospheric distillation method is used, which preserves the inherent taste and aroma of the sweet potatoes. Aging takes place in traditional earthenware pots. We sampled flavourful Dubu Kimchi with it, which consists of tofu topped with stir-fried kimchi. Food pairings also include Fish Cake Hot Pot or a cheese platter.
— 40% alcohol

We finished the Masterclass by learning how to say Cheers in Korean – Gombe!

Although these specific products are not available at the LCBO, you can find several other Soju and Makgeolli products available to try, with a delightful variety of flavours and styles.

Look for them in the Soju and Sake section.

For more wine and food discovery from Jane Staples, visit www.bellovinoj.com

Header images: Courtesy SommWise Inc.