This time of year is always a busy season for Makgeolli, and we are only now getting the time to collect ourselves and reflect on the past few months.  Back in October we had the annual Asan Folk Village Festival weekend.  MMPK teamed up with the always awesome Susubori Academy, along with their expat brewing instructors Becca Baldwin and Dan Lenaghan, to offer a weekend of open air makgeolli classes.

This year the classes were held over the course of two days, with the first class having the opportunity to stay overnight in the hanok village.  It was a beautiful moonlit night, and we all enjoyed a long night of country air and plenty of fresh makgeolli.

Of course the highlight of the weekend was the Expat Brewing contest, where 8 creative makgeolli lovers came up with their own unique brew for the public to taste and rate.  This year saw some stiff competition, and the flavor combinations were nothing short of inspired.  The entries were as follows:

‘Jeolju’ – Becca Baldwin:  A 300 year old traditional Iyangju recipe with a lot of elbow grease in the making.

‘Sunrise Liquor’ – Dan Lenaghan:  An out-of-the-box Iyangju with red bean.

‘Baninja Reloaded’ – Julia Mellor: A revised (and much improved) version of last year’s entry; banana & ginger infused Iyangju.

‘Bad Seeds’ – Caroline Mahon:  A fragrant Danyangju with cardamon and cloves.

‘Creamy Cocoa Memories’ – Don Edwards:  A sweeter Danyangju inspiration incorporating cocoa and raisins.

‘Speckled Spice’ – Beryl Sinclair:  A spicy Iyangju with vanilla beans and black pepper.

‘Serious Cider’ – Staci Gray:  A carefully concocted ‘hard cider’ inspired Danyangju of apple and cinnamon.

‘Bae Saengang’ -Tyson Hanrahan:  A balanced Danyangju with pear and ginger flavorings.

We had two categories for the voting.  The first was the public vote, where attendees of the festival could taste and choose their favorite among the 8 brews.  And then we had the Brewer’s Choice Awards, where class takers, Susubori & MMPK Staff voted for their top three brews.

Public Vote

1st Place:  ’Jeolju’ Becca Baldwin

2nd Place: ‘Baninja Reloaded’ Julia Mellor

3rd Place:  ’Serious Cider’ Staci Gray

 

Brewers’ Choice Awards

1st Place:  ’Serious Cider’ Staci Gray

2nd Place:  ’Jeolju’ Becca Baldwin

3rd Place:  ’Bad Seeds’ Caroline Mahon

All in all, we had a fabulous weekend in excellent makgeolli loving company, and we just can’t wait until next year.  A big thanks as always to our hard working collaborative makgeolli team at Susubori Academy, who pulled together to make the whole thing happen.  Check out the photo gallery below for a closer look at some of the action