Craftworks Taphouse & Bistro: Spirit of Craft Beer at Work in Our Seoul

Craftworks Logo

(Images from Flickr and/or Craftworks Taphouse & Bistro)

Five in the afternoon on January 7th, a Friday in Seoul, and Dan Vroon of Craftworks Taphouse and Bistro is smiling.

Dan Vroon

Well . . . he's usually smiling.

(Image from Flickr)

My friend and sometime blogger who goes by the online moniker of 'Sperwer' has joined me for an evening of beer and food at the Craftworks Taphouse and Bistro, and we've just told Dan that I maintain a blog and intend to write about the pub's craft beer.

Unfortunately, we've already sampled several stiff pints of draft brew from a nearby eatery and are in therefore less than prime condition for tasting what Craftworks has to offer. Blame Dan. Sperwer and I had shown up at 3:00 p.m., only to find Craftworks not yet open in these early days (it's a new establishment). The affable Dan Vroon had greeted us with warmth and an apology for not yet opening the doors, plus generous directions to his competitor just a few meters down the street, where I indulged in two San Miguels and a Kilkenny, and shared a pizza with Sperwer, who himself drank a Kilkenny or two.

Two hours later, we returned, rather worse for the wear, and settled down at a table where we ordered what proved to be delicious, medium-rare hamburgers dragged through a fresh vegetable garden, spread with thick gorgonzola sauce, and laid between freshly baked buns with a side order of fries, not crisp but tasty, seasoned with tumeric and sea salt. That food further distracted me from my primary objective, sampling the five craft beers on tap.

I was also drawn away from my dissolute aims by the conversation with my erudite friend, Sperwer, who talked with me about world literature, Korean history, and related topics. He's especially interested these days in the ideas of Michael Oakeshott, though I don't believe that this philosopher had anything profound to say about beer, unlike Benjamin Franklin, who's reputed to have said that "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." Except that Ben was actually talking about the rain that falls on vineyards and infuses the grapes to make wine possible. That was old Ben's variant on one of the proofs for God's existence, indeed for His beneficence, and Ben's oenological argument has its merits.

But I had intended to talk about beer, not wine! One too many beers will always get a man off topic, which is probably proof that God wants us to think out of the box. Well, I thought outside of several boxes, with the consequence that I didn't give the craft beer quite the attention that it deserved. I therefore needed to visit Craftworks again.

Fortunately, my lovely wife Sun-Ae acquiesced, and agreed to accompany me on a Friday one week later, so we found ourselves at noon on the 14th of January in the Craftworks, greeted by a still-smiling Dan Vroon, who remembered me.

I proceeded to order a chorizo sandwich with fries -- my wife ordered a BLTC with salad -- and I began my beer sampling once again. What follows is a conflation of the tastings from two successive Fridays. Alert readers will notice that four of the beers are named after mountains on the Korean Peninsula, so for your geographical edification, I've linked to information on these mountains, as you will see.


I began with the Namsan Pure Pilsner. A pilsner is a pale lager beer -- the term "lager" refering to the fact that it's bottom-fermented -- and from my seven or eight years in German-speaking parts of Europe, I'd tried a good many pilsner beers, but this one was a surprise. German pilsners are poured slowly but directly into the glass, so they form a thick foamy head, but this pilsner was poured more quickly and in the North American method, the glass tilted to decrease the head. Also, the beer was cloudy and dissimilar to the clear, crisp pilsner beers that I'd had in Germany. Dan explained that Craftworks' pilsners were young because freshly brewed, meaning that the sediment had not yet settled (thereby also explaining a cloudy craft pilsner that I'd had on base at nearby Yongsan about a year earlier). I found the taste slightly bitter, also with a light citric aftertaste -- though my wife noted a sweet aftertaste! We asked Dan about that, and while his taste agreed with mine, he acknowledged that taste is profoundly subjective and depends upon what else one is drinking or eating. Overall, I enjoyed this cloudy Namsan Pure Pilsner . . . though I have to admit to retaining a soft spot for the crisp, clear German style.

In other words, "Gustibus non disputandum est." Taste is not to be disputed.


My second beer was a hefeweizen -- the German wheat beer -- specifically a Baekdusan Hefeweizen. The hefeweizen is typically top-fermented and unfiltered, and I drank a number of them during my first year living in Germany. Before I tried the Baekdusan Hefeweizen, I admitted to Dan, "The hefeweizen isn't my favorite beer. I find them overly sour."

Dan raised his index finger in an obscurely hermetic style, smiled, and headed for the bar. He returned with a hefeweizen that wasn't at all sour. Indeed, it tasted lightly of cloves! And other complex flavors. No cloves were used in the brewing process, so that's just one of those flavors that emerge in a complex beer. Finally, a hefeweizen for me to love.

Kranz Kölsch

Not at Craftworks, but your eyes want to see something . . .

(Image from Wikipedia)

I next tried the pub's seasonal brew, a Kölsch, what Dan described as a cold-lagered beer. I later learned why he phrased his description so carefully. This beer is typically warm-fermented (13 to 21°C, or 55 to 70°F), then cold-conditioned, i.e., lagered, or so says Wikipedia. The Kölsch derives from the famous beer brewed around Köln, better known as Cologne (though the beer doesn't taste at all like men's perfume), but I don't recall drinking one during my years in Europe. This Craftworks Kölsch was bitter with a floral aftertaste, and it was also strong, with an almost whiskey flavor. That whiskey taste reminded me of a Tiger Beer that I purchased in Singapore about five years ago . . . except that the Tiger Beer was dreadful, whereas this Kölsch was quite good.


After the Kölsch, I sampled a Halla Mountain Golden Ale. An ale is a warm-fermented brew made using malted barley and is fermented using a top-fermenting process with a yeast that works quickly, which usually makes it slightly sweet, but the hops in it balances this with bitterness -- again, I'm indebted to Wikipedia, this time for the explanation about the ale's sweetness. This Craftworks Ale was slightly dark, and reminiscent of an Anchor Steam brew on tap that I used to imbibe in San Francisco back in the mid-1980s, likely one of the ales, though this Craftworks Ale was somewhat milder than the Steam. Or so I recall, but that Steam was over twenty years ago. More specifically . . . this Halla Mountain Golden Ale was not especially hoppy, but slightly sweet with a dry finish. Also slightly bitter, I thought, but my wife thought that it had a lemon-fruit taste . . . citrusy. I asked Dan, who reminded me that brewed flavors are complex, so our taste buds can interact with the brew in various ways.

Once again, "Gustibus non disputandum est."


Finally, I tried the Geumgang Mountain Dark Ale. I had my wife taste a sample, and we both agreed that it reminds us of a Guiness Stout . . . though not nearly so creamy and heavy. It's actually a brown ale, I suppose. Anyway, this Dark Ale had a smooth texture, only slightly bitter. It's a good beer to finish with, after the other four.

I asked Dan about the brewer, Park Chul, whom I mentioned in a previous blog entry, though we've never met, for that blog post was a report on my intention to visit the Craftworks Taphouse after reading about it in Jean Oh's Korea Herald article, "Kapa's microbrews take palate for ride." Ms. Oh notes that Mr. Park uses only fresh spring water for brewing because he believes that "96 percent of beer is water . . . . Good water makes good beer." I'm guessing that this is why the beers are named after mountains, often a source of fresh water.

But more goes into the beer at Craftworks than just water. There's also knowledge and experience. According to Dan, Mr. Park was trained in Germany and began brewing for himself and small gatherings. He started up Kapa Brewery, located in Gapyeong County, in Gyeonggi Province, and his friends encouraged him to expand into selling his brews in a pub. Dan Vroon was apparently one of these friends, and managed to convince him by saying, "You let me set up a pub to sell your beers, and I'll sell them. I have no doubt they'll sell."

Dan is right, and at only 4 to 5 thousand won per pint, they'll definitely sell. You can help out by dropping in for a drink . . . and a meal.

DIRECTIONS: Take the Seoul Subway's Line 6 to Noksapyeong Subway Station, a stop after Itaewon (or before, depending on your direction), and leave the station by Exit 2. You can take the escalator at that exit. As you leave the exit, just continue in a straight line down the sidewalk until you arrive at the underpass (not far before reaching a gate onto the base). Use the underpass to cross the street, and take the exit to your left. Once above ground, you'll find a side street that you have to cross. Use the crosswalk, but wait for the green pedestrian signal, and look both ways for safety's sake (as I've discovered). Continue straight ahead along the main street. You'll pass a restaurant called NOXA on the corner of the side street and the main street. Craftworks will be a bit further down, but not far, and to your right, somewhat hidden from the main street. Watch for the sign.


HOURS: The pub is open from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. weekdays except Monday (when it's closed), and to 3 a.m. weekends.

More Craft Beer in Seoul

Craftworks Taphouse and Bistro

(Image from Craftworks Website)

Although I've not yet patronized the place, a new craft beer watering hole owned and operated by a certain Mr. Park Chul has opened in Seoul and received a positive write-up, "Kapa's microbrews take palate for ride," penned by Jean Oh as a review published in the Korea Herald (December 3, 2010):

Craftworks Taphouse and Bistro, one of the city's newest pubs to specialize in craft beers, has hit the nail on the head.

How? The newly-minted Itaewon establishment keeps it simple and straightforward. They put out five top-notch microbrews for only 4,000 won to 5,000 won per pint.

Fifteen thousand won or less for three pints? Now, I'm interested. I'll have to talk my expat drinking buddy, the occasional blogger Sperwer, into joining me for a raid on this place. I wonder how the drinks are, other than being inexpensive:

One sip of the establishment’s American-style golden ale confirms the luxury that comes from being able to enjoy a beer crafted from pure spring water in a microbrewery just a few hours away from Seoul.

Strong aromas of caramel -- sweet and sugary -- tease the palate. One huge gulp unloads a flood of full-bodied, fruity flavors, namely banana with a hint of butterscotch, before packing a spiky punch at the end.

This is the kind of beer that you want to drink by the liter, over and over again.

Hmmm . . . banana. Gee, I dunno. Well, Ms. Oh does state that "it's . . . Park’s willingness to experiment with his brews that makes Kapa’s beers so memorable," so let's look further:

For example, Kapa's Geumgang Mountain Dark Ale is a dark brew that is leaner than the well-known Guinness, which is a dry stout with a creamy head and a thick, rich flavor.

With the Geumgang, grainy aromas and chocolate flavors are pared down by a sour bite and bitter aftertaste.

To achieve that balance, Park says he restrains the amount of roasted malt barley used, which makes the dark ale taste lighter.

That sounds more to my taste, bud. No, not Bud (though I admit to enjoying one of those after a workout). But as for Geumgang Mountain Dark Ale, I do hope that this Leninist label is tongue-in-cheek:


I think that it is meant in glorious socialist irony, given these words from the Craftworks description of the drink:

Take a walk on the dark side! Our Geumgang Dark Ale celebrates the forbidden mystique of North Korea's Geumgangsan, the only mountain in the North you'd ever want to visit! A malty, dark ale with a nutty taste, this brew is not for the timid. Bold, brash, and a little dangerous, our dark ale is so good, you'll be ordering it by the Dear Liter!

The "Dear Liter"? I thought it was inexpensive! And by what metric will we order when the 'Dear Leader' is gone and the Young General takes over? Whatever wordplay that comes down to us from Pun-yang City, the ale will surely rank four stars, generally speaking! But how does one get to this nutty joint? Ms. Oh has provided directions:

Craftworks Taphouse and Bistro is located in Itaewon near Noksapyeong Subway Station Line 6, Exit 2.

To get there just walk straight out the subway exit until you reach the underpass. Enter the underpass to cross the street and take the exit to your left. After you get out of the underpass, cross the street and pass NOXA. Craftworks will be to your left, a bit hidden from the main road.

That doesn't sound too complicated. I'm sure that my drinking buddy Sperwer can figure it out and lead me there.

A Long-Delayed Re-Visit to the Craftworks Taphouse

Craftworks Taphouse Namsan, Seoul

I've been so busy teaching and editing for the past year that I've not managed to visit the Craftworks Taphouse pub in all that time, but I keep sending folks over that way. I finally found some time yesterday, however, and personally introduced three colleagues from my university to the place. You see our hands -- hands that grade and edit! -- at other work below:

As I told Publican Dan Vroon via email -- he wasn't in, having flown to Canada on Tuesday -- my colleagues loved the place:

Dear Dan,

Just to let you know . . . my three colleagues and I had a great time. The beer and food are as good as ever, and the three loved the place. We stayed from 12 to 5, and I drank six beers . . .

Just got home. I hope you enjoyed your trip [home] to Canada.

Yours,

Jeffery

From the link under the iconic Craftworks image above, but more particularly here, I see that the Craftworks has expanded to Pangyo, Seoul! Expansion? Yeah! I'll drink to that!

I tried to persuade the other three there with me to join in a photo op, but they prefer anonymity. Too bad. On the upside, though, I got them interested in the Kindle version of my novella, The Bottomless Bottle of Beer, which I view on my iPad.

An apt iPad app to top off the bottom of an affable day!

Night Out With Former Students: Craftworks Taphouse

Craftworks Taphouse

At the Taphouse yesterday evening, I spent over four hours talking with two former students of mine from the time when I taught a few courses at Yonsei's Underwood College. They enjoyed my approach to classtime activities - discussion based rather than lecture debased - and insisted that I was one of the few professors who used that approach,

Here they are, with me in the middle:

Hazhir Afzali and Raymond Rohne

These two were special students - inquisitive and curious - and they worked hard to do well, which they did do, too. Moreover, I've lately learned that both intend to pursue doctorates - Hazhir in business, Raymond in art. We didn't really talk so much about those plans, but I hope they accomplish what they set out to do.

They want to treat me do dinner next time, which is generous of them - if I can only find time before the semester begins  . . .

Beer Competition: "Brew Your Hops Off"

Adam Matthews

Winner of Stout Category

Brew Your Hops Off Competition

Photography by Dylan Goldby

(Image from Korea Herald)

Change is brewing on the Korean beer scene, and even expats are playing a role! Just yesterday, I read in the Korea Herald of a great event that took place on my birthday, the Brew Your Hops Off Competition that brought together 62 homebrewed-by-expat beers for judging by three judges -- Rob Titley, Josh Hall, and Joe McPherson -- and NOBODY told me in advance even though Joe and I are acquainted!

I had to learn of this even from Korea Herald reporter Paul Kerry more than two weeks after the fact in an article appropriately titled "Don't get bitter -- get brewing" (June 1, 2011):

The most recent was the Brew Your Hops Off competition on May 14. Homebrewers from as far away as Jeju and Geoje Island came to submit entries in three categories, and beer fans got to try some brews and enjoy a free bar at the Oktoberfest microbrewery pub in Gangnam, Seoul.

Brewers also brought beers that weren't entered in the competition to get feedback. They swapped opinions on how brews could be improved and tips on Heath Robinson substitutes for equipment.

Rube Goldberg can be used if Heath Robinson is unavailable.

"Everybody shares their beer and of course everybody is welcome to share their criticism, because that's how you get better," explains Titley.

One brewer met someone who had processed malt for him for the first time, having arranged to send and receive the ingredients on the website.

Sixty-two beers were entered, and Titley says he and the other judges -- food writer Joe McPherson and wine consultant Josh Hall -- were somewhat overwhelmed.

Overwhelmed by a tsunami of homebrewed beer! Titley speaks as if that's somehow a 'bad' thing. But perhaps he meant that they needed more drinkers. Hell, I'd have sacrificed my time! Even on my birthday.

Speaking of self-sacrifice, I intend to devote some of my time to drinking at a beer or two at the Craftworks Taphouse this coming Friday, June 3 (2011), beginning around 4:00 p.m., where I'll eventually be joined by some of the expats who usually hang out at the Marmot's Hole but are likewise willing to devote some of their own precious time for an evening at the Craftworks watering hole.

For those who don't know about the Craftworks Taphouse, you can read my review here, though I understand that another brew has been added since the time of my writing . . .

Homebrew Korea

Beer Blog

(Homebrew Korea)

My friend Sperwer the Pirate fired off an email to me yesterday that curtly stated "You need this link." I clicked and was transported to a blog I ought to have known about already because it's been around since 2008: "Homebrew Korea."

The blog name is only slightly misleading, for the site's not only about homebrewing but also about getting good beer in Korea, so it also reviews various beers as they come on the market here in this country. The site's founder -- name of "Rob" -- reviewed Craftworks Taphouse long before I did (mine here):

The Craftworks team are big beer lovers which you can definitely feel when talking to them about their vision of the bar. I think this is a place to keep your eye on if you appreciate a good pint of beer. The 'rule book' on beers here in korea (basically everyone brewing lagers) needs to change and this just might be the place to do it.

This is just one paragraph from a brief review posted November 26, 2010, but the site has follow-up posts on the Taphouse -- as you can see for yourself if you click on over to Homebrew Korea and do a search.

But go to Homebrew anyway, and check it out for all sorts of reasons. It's going onto my blogroll . . .

At the Taphouse Craftworks with Students

Since education takes place not only in classrooms, I invited my Academic English class to drinks at the Taphouse Craftworks yesterday evening, and one of the students -- Jee Heeyoun (지희연), who also goes by "Michelle" -- sent me some photographs afterwards, starting with ugly old me:

Here I am again, looking slightly improved by the 'environment' -- I guess I ought to support environmentalism more fervently now that I see its effectiveness. The student to my left, incidentally, is from Ukraine and speaks four languages: Ukranian, Russian, Korean, and English. I suppose her environment proved its effectiveness as well.

Here are photos of what we were drinking. I went for beer, of course.

The students also went for beer, but a couple of them switched to cocktails. The dregs in this glass are caramel. Hmmm . . .

This second cocktail looks more . . . appetizing, I suppose.

We didn't just drink, of course, since this is all about education. I explained a little about the beer and also regaled the students with tales of my past, such as the time that I served a drink to Queen Elizabeth.

I guess you had to be there . . .

Korean Unification Gang . . .

My scholarly friend Kim Myongsob, currently director of the Yonsei Institute for Korean Unification Studies (연세대학교 부설 통일연구원), which is housed in the same building as the Kim Dae Jung Presidential Library and Museum, asked me to meet with some of his masters students and offer advice on research writing, so I met with them and provided some guidance:

That's me in the cap, second from the left. First from the left is Choi Jaehoon, who works with the Korean police force and is studying terrorism with the intention of finding a job at Interpol, which doubtless keeps a sharp eye on North Korea's activities. Third from the left is Lim Honey, who is hiding from Big Brother and working on the puzzle of North Korea's continuing, mystifying existence! Fourth from the left is Chou Yuh Bin, of Taiwan, who wants to explain why so many non-Koreans think that Samsung is a Japanese firm (!) -- clearly essential for understanding North Korea (since the two Koreas get conflated, too). Fifth from the left is Jun Dae-jin, who studies international law and wants to apply the Right to Protect to North Korea, specifically, the Right to Rebuild if the North becomes a failed state. (If?) Sixth from the left is Jo Sung Gwun, a doctor of medicine who is interested in North Korea's health care system but is currently working on understanding diabetes (maybe Kim Jong-il can use some treatment). Seventh from the left is Yoon Kyeongwon, who is studying linguistics with the aim of teaching Korean better to English speakers, which has something to do with North Korea, I suppose, but you don't see him since he's so far right that he has disappeared out the door . . .

I was also soon caught on the way out, as you see from my 'deer-in-the-headlights' look as I adjust my bag:

The whole gang and I had such a nice time that we plan to meet again next week . . . at Craftworks Taphouse!

Biggie Train - Craft Beer in Daegu

Sorry to have missed blogging on Sunday - we were without internet connection in Jeonju.

Here are the photos from Saturday night, taken at a craft beer place in Daegu called "Biggie Train." I drank an India Pale Ale that the bartender said was supplied by Craftworks Taphouse, and the brew did taste like the IPA I've had many times there, but I'll need to check with Dan Vroon to make sure since there might have been something lost in translation, for the bartender spoke no English. Anyway, here I am drinking that IPA:

Sun-Ae drank a different beer, as can be seen in the next photo:

Sun-Ae's brother and his wife also enjoyed a brew:

I wish I had more time to write, but the evening is passing quickly by this Monday back in Seoul . . .

2011 Year's End: Chance Encounter with Bruno Littlemore!

Yesterday around midday, I took an end-of-the-year walk with Sun-Ae along Seoul's old city wall on the east side of town upon the hill known as Naksan, as you see below.

The day was cold, but to my surprise as we descended into the Daehangno neighborhood, I ran into an old friend from the States, Bruno Littlemore! He looks less dressed for the chilly weather, but Bruno's a Chicago boy and thus accustomed to cold weather.

I've never seen Chicago, only passed through on Amtrack back in 1984, so I didn't meet Bruno there in his hometown, but we have a mutual acquaintance in Benjamin Hale, the son of one of my high school buddies, Pete Hale, both of us being Ozark Mountain boys.

Bruno and I had a lot of catching up to do. Last I'd heard, he was in Georgia, incarcerated for murder (though I consider that killing justifiable homicide), so I wondered how he'd escaped. Seems some woman named Gwen Gupta had fallen for him big time and had slipped him a key to liberate himself -- "Shades of Paradise Lost!" I actually exclaimed that, but Bruno merely smiled. He did mention that he'd ended up in Seoul by stowing away on a merchant marine ship headed for the Far East. Discovered in the hold, he'd offered to work his way across the Pacific. When they realized his strength and agility and noted that he was a quick study, they'd offered him a permanent job, but he jumped ship in Busan Harbor and made his way to Korea's capital, where he teaches English to get by. He doesn't have a 'real' college diploma, but the local academies will hire anything on two legs that can speak American English, so he figures he'll be around for a while.

I couldn't chat long with Bruno since Sun-Ae and I were hungry, so we bade goodbye, promising to meet sometime for brews -- I intend to take him to the Taphouse! -- and my wife and I wandered on till we came upon a place called Queen's Town Public Restaurant and decided to try the place. I ordered a Budweiser on tap, against my better judgment, but when it appeared, I was so taken by its excessive carbonation that I could only admire the head of foam that built up and overflowed. You see my admiring glance below.

As you perceive, I'm now in shock at the continuing wellspring of foam!

The day went on after our meal as Sun-Ae and I sought out a café and talked until past four in the afternoon about what we'd achieved in 2011 and hoped to achieve in 2012. We then started the troublesome, too-long journey homeward.

I would have included photos of my wife, but she's camera shy and refused even the rare photo from being posted, so you'll just have to imagine her stunning beauty . . .

Changing Beer Tastes in Korea?

Beer Imports in Korea

JoongAng Ilbo

Good beer is the next big thing in Korea. Get in quickly if you're an investor because change happens fast in the land of mourning calm long gone -- just look at the astonishingly abrupt change in the taste for coffee. As recently as 2005, I was still bemoaning the paucity of good coffee here in Korea. Now, it's available everywhere! Likewise, tastes in beer are changing, and Korean drinkers -- having traveled and experienced the worldwide brotherhood of beer -- are no longer willing to accept low standards here in their own country:

Budweiser . . . [is] classified as [a] domestic [product] . . . because . . . [it is] produced under license by Korea's Oriental Brewery. This has led to complaints that . . . [it doesn't] taste as good here as in . . . the United States.

Well . . . okay, but Korean tastes have to start changing somewhere, and believe me, they'll improve and change fast. Very fast. Anyway, the same article, "Miller time for foreign beers as tastes change" (yeah, I know, but God's millers also grind slow), which was published in the JoongAng Daily for April 28, 2012 and written by business reporter Kim Mi-ju, notes other, far better beers that Koreans are beginning to drink:

Now it is easy to find a pint of Guinness on tap in fashionable Seoul nightspots like Hongdae or Gangnam . . . . Meanwhile, franchise bars such as Wa Bar have even set up shop near City Hall to offer tired civil servants a choice of over 90 foreign beers from as far afield as Austria, South Africa and India . . . . [R]etailers and beer manufacturers here are zeroing in on the changing tastes of local consumers and their developing taste for richer hops and malts . . . . Homeplus said it will expand its selection of beers from 141 last year to 230 in 2012 as it places its faith in the domestic market's clamor . . . for diversity and quality . . . . Distributor Diageo Korea brought Irish red ale Smithwick's to Korea earlier this month to tap the growing desire for premium imported beers . . . [and] already distributes Guinness Irish stout . . . . Around 3,500 pubs and restaurants sell Asahi draft . . . . Heineken Korea said sales of its Dutch beer went up 1.7 percent last year . . . . Foreign beers are estimated to grow to 10 percent of Korea's total beer market in a few years . . . . Retailers have been expanding their foreign beer portfolios since 2010 in tandem with the mushrooming number of pubs that specialize in selling them . . . . [S]ales of domestic beers and soju dropped by 7 percent each in the first quarter of this year, [while] sales of foreign beers rose 21 percent . . . . On a similar note, Lotte Mart said it will increase its selection of imported beers by more than 15 percent to 150 after it saw on-year sales grow 16.8 percent in the first quarter.

Apologies to various individuals for mashing together their quotes from the article, but I wanted to summarize the central point succinctly, namely, that tastes in beer are changing fast and that the market for good beer is primed to grow. Investors should get in now if they want to make money, for there's money to be made, not only in imports, but also in the growth of the local craft beer sector.

But, of course, the best beer in Korea is still to be found at the Craftworks Taphouse . . .

Good Beer in Korea?

Great Korean Food
Poor Korean Beer

The Economist

Photo from Eyevine

The Economist has a nice, short article, "Fiery food, boring beer," asking why Korea's excellent cuisine has to be accompanied by such poor beer. The editors don't leave us hanging:

The problem for South Korean boozers is that their national market is a cramped duopoly. Hite-Jinro and Oriental Brewery (OB) have nearly 100% of it. Their beers are hard to tell apart; their prices, even harder. At five out of five shops visited by The Economist, their main brands all cost precisely 1,850 won ($1.70) per 330ml can.

The lack of competition ain't the worst of it, for the duopoly does have one big, unexpected 'competitor':

Some South Korean beers skimp on barley malt, using the likes of rice in its place. Others are full of corn. And despite the recent creation of Hite Dry Finish -- a step in the right direction -- brewing remains just about the only useful activity at which North Korea beats the South. The North's Taedonggang Beer, made with equipment imported from Britain, tastes surprisingly good.

Though the South ought to be ashamed to lose out to its archenemy, Taedonggang Beer is the sole North Korean product I'd like to try! But even better than the North's special beer are the brews being created in microbreweries down South, and Dan Vroon's pub is mentioned:

[A] handful of small brewers have risen to the challenge [of providing Korea with great beer]. One of them, Craftworks Brewing Company, is owned by a Canadian, Dan Vroon. Mr Vroon's pub in Seoul is packed every night.

The Taphouse Craftworks is wonderful watering hole, and for those who don't know about it or where it is, here's some information at the link.

Terrance Lindall Toasts The Bottomless Bottle of Beer

Toasting the Bottomless Bottle of Beer

WCIAL "Publishing for a New Age" Team

Avant garde surrealist artist Terrance Lindall recently convened a meeting of the WCIAL members committed to "Publishing for a New Age." As you see, they gathered in a restaurant where -- or so Terrance informs me in an email with the above photo attached -- they toasted my story The Bottomless Bottle of Beer (BBB). The published book will of course be as much Terrance's as mine since some fifty illustrations of his depicting the ten characters will appear therein, bringing the novella to over 100 pages.

Terrance is the distinguished-looking white-haired man in the near right of the photo, and therefore closest to the viewer. The other three members visible counterclockwise starting at Terrance's right are holographic artist Sam Moree, artist, musician, and filmmaker Peter Dizozza, and design artist Orin Buck. Also, in the lower left corner can be seen the aesthetic hand of electrifying painter and sculptor Bienvedo Bones Banez, a fifth member of the publishing team.

Neither I nor Carter Kaplan were able to make this meeting, nor were we expected to, but Carter is a strong supporter of my story and will be pre-publishing it soon in somewhat shorter form, with only four of Terrance's illustrations, in his IA anthology Emanations II. Here are Carter's recent remarks about the BBB in an email to Terrance (cc'd to me) concerning the story's potential appeal to readers:

BBB is a superb bit of work. I don't know if it is me -- and Jeffery and I have already discussed how the story affects people in different ways -- but, my goodness, if you go just below the surface and experience the story "out there" in imagination land, well, I find it very frightening. Isn't that curious? Anyway, as a piece of literary art, it covers all the bases.

That was satisfying to hear, and I hope that Carter's correct about its appeal (though I didn't realize the tale was "frightening"!). Readers will recall that I've posted a few brief selections from the story, but here's another passage that I think I've not previously posted, a scene that follows events on a city bus where the clownish Koroviev forcefully introduced himself and hurried our hapless 'hero' along to Café Griboyedov for cups of coffee and other, more mysterious things:

I caught a brief glimpse of a large red sign with golden Cyrillic script that must have read "Café Griboyedov," as Koroviev dragged me inside. The café was large, spacious, packed; my traveling companion seemed to know everyone as he grasped hands in greeting while we made our way to a table inexplicably free of patrons. I tried to focus on what the tall fellow was telling me about each individual he greeted but could scarcely hear above a loud, jazzed-up version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah." And waiters! Griboyedov had waiters! Bearing trays laden with cups and saucers high above their heads, they pushed their way among the patrons, hoarsely shouting, "Izviní!" Dropping the ordered cakes and coffees down onto tables with a clunk, sweeping used cups, saucers, and silverware clattering onto their trays, dumping loads of used dish- and silverware roaring into sinks, shouting out orders for various coffees and cakes. In short, pandaemonium.

The story is intertextual, alluding to other works of literature, often quite directly, and readers who've read Mikhail Bulgakov's famous novel The Master and Margarita will recognize the inspiration for this scene (and I'm indebted to Meergul of Kyrgyzstan, a waitress in Seoul's Craftworks Taphouse, for the Russian word "izviní," which means something like "pardon."). Anyway, you can read the anthology version later this year in IA's Emanations II, as noted above. WCIAL's "Publishing for a New Age" version will take more time since Terrance will want to work on producing the finest of illustrations. His standards are high, and he intends to finish fifty images, at the least.

The book, therefore, might take another year or two . . .