Korean beverage – all about makgeolli(rice wine, Drunken rice)

What is makgeolli? Koreans love makgeolli!

Makgeolli is Korea’s traditional unrefined rice wine made from rice mixed with leaven. Some people call the makgeolli rice wine(or drunken rice). The alcohol concentration is around 5~6%. According to National Tax Service data, makgeolli output rose close to 60% last year, year-on-year, to account for 12% of national liquor production.

Typical anju (side dishes for alcoholic drinks) are pajeon and kimchi. The next time it rains, why not go with your friends to a Korean-style drinking restaurant and have makgeolli and pajeon?

Why Korean love makgeoli?

As Koreans increasingly focus on health and wellbeing, makgeolli is enjoying a renewed spotlight along with surging sales. And, foreingers have also adapted to the taste and exports are rising fast. details are belows;

Delicious

Good makgeolli is imbued with sweet, sour and bitter flavors with a refreshing taste. And It is easy to drink compared with the other alcohol drinks. Makgeolli is loved by common people in all ages because of sweet taste.

Cheap

Makgeolli is very cheap. It costs US$2 per a bottle if you buy it in supermarket.

Help your health

According to the recent report, There are lots of anti-carcinogenic substances in the makgeolli.  There are generally 106-108 lactic-acid bacteria in 1㎖ of makgeolli. A bottle of makgeolli has 70-80 billion lactic-acid bacteria when a bottle contains around 700-800㎖ makgeolli. This is an amazing figure, equivalent to the number of lactic-acid bacteria in 100-120 bottle of 65㎖ yoghourt (around 107 per a bottle). Lactic-acid bacteria are known to destroy harmful germs and bacteria that cause inflammation or cancer in the intestine, and to strengthen the immune system.

Help your diet.

Makgeolli has low calorie. It is about 42kcal in a bottle. makgeolli helps reduce weight due to lower calorie than that of the same amount of boiled rice.  The habit of drinking makgeolli every day leads to lesser consumption of other foods, causing malnutrition.

How to drink?

Drink cold makgeolli! You should keep makgeolli in refrigerator.

Shake makgeolli before drink.  As you can see the picture, something is settled at the bottom of the glass. To enjoy delicious makgeolli you should shake it before drink.

Drink makgeolli before expiry date. Effective period is about 1 month.

Drink makgeolli with typical anju. Anju is side dishe for alcoholic drinks. And typical anju for korean is pajeon and kimchi with dofu.

Drink makgeolli if it’s raining! Korean enjoy makgeolli when is is raining. If you drink it in raining day, you can feel koreans mood^^

There are many kinds of makgeolli. It is a little bit different taste. I recommend you to find out the makgeolli which you like most!