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What do you and Bukhansan have in common?  Probably not much…until now that is. Homebrew Korea is teaming up with Craftworks Taphouse for the next festival, and it’s going to be a great one!  The theme for this contest is ‘Pale Ale’; the ‘Bukhansan Pale Ale’ to be exact.

Homebrewers are invited to brew their best pale ale which will be judged on the event day.  The winner will have their recipe renamed the Bukhansan Pale Ale and it will be brewed on a commercial scale at the Kappa Brewery in Gapyeong and served on tap at Craftworks Taphouse.

Brewers must pick their ingredients from a set list of malt and hops.  You can use anything from the list below, but nothing more.  I will update this list with specifics regarding each ingredient (color, alpha acid %, etc) as soon as I get the information.  The available ingredients are as follows:

The winning recipe will win fame, the chance to help brew their recipe at the Kapa Brewery, ₩200,000 in Craftworks gift certificates, 4 mugs and t-shirts featuring the new brew. The winning recipe would belong to Craftworks.

Brewers should plan to submit 10L of beer.  Judging will be open to the public with the top 5 recipes being reviewed by a select panel of judges.  Tickets will cost 20,000won for the event which gets people into Craftworks and a small tasting cup.

When should you start brewing?  Now!  Mark your calendars as Sunday, December 18th is the big day.  So there is no time to lose; start planning your recipe and get it brewed up in time for the judging day.  I know the day is sooner than most would like and it doesn’t give much time, but these things happen.  Make the best of the coming weeks and brew up a winning pale ale!

Cheers and Happy Brewing!

For discussion on the event, please see this thread in the Homebrew Korea Community Forums.

I had a peek at the makgeolli last night and it had finished fermenting I think with just a few bubbles every once in a while which were probably just CO2 coming out of solution. So, that means on to the next step. I needed to filter it as there was a lot of stuff in there, remnants of the nuruk and flour. I used my hop bag and placed it over the opening of another plastic container and poured it in.

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This weekend, tonight in fact, is the grand opening of Craftworks Taphouse  in Yongsan (just down the street from Noksapyeong Station, exit #2). The Taphouse has a great location tucked back off the street that includes a small garden/patio area.

Craftworks serves up four main beers at the moment: a dark ale, pilsner, hefeweisen and a golden ale along with a kolsch as a seasonal. They also sport a wide selection of single malt scotches and a variety of wines.

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.

There will be a bunch of homebrewers attending the opening this evening so if you missed last weekend’s event and are looking to chat beer, we’ll see you at Craftworks Taphouse!

You can read the original post at HomebrewKorea.

That’s right, it’s time for another Homebrew Korea festival!!!  On November 20th, from 1pm ~ 5pm at the Oktoberfest location in Gangnam we will be holding the ‘Brew Your Best’ Fest.  Homebrewers are invited to come and submit a beer for the brewing contest.  Prizes will be awarded for first place through third.  To make the event that much better, we will have unlimited house beer (pilsner, weizen and dunkel) and a few plates of food per table (salad, nachos, haxen) all for 25,000 won per person (paid in advance).

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When it comes to new beers these days, if it’s not HomePlus then it seems to be Lotte Mart.  While they have stocked the Krombacher Pilsner for a while now (which, by the way isn’t a favourite of mine), I just noticed 500ml bottles of Krombacher Weizen staring at me from the shelves.

This wheat comes in at 5.3% ABV, which is pretty much standard for the style.  It pours that cloudy, golden orange-ish colour that one would expect with lots of head and good lacing.  It smells of bananas, cloves and a hint more citrus aroma (orange maybe?) than I remembered with the last pint I had.  Those flavours carry on when tasted along with a good dose of wheat flavour.  I get ever-so-slight hints of alcohol that I don’t remember from previous pints, but that isn’t of much concern as it not overpowering at all.  Carbonation is medium and right where you’d want it to be with a weizen.  It’s a refreshing pint, a great for the warm, sunny fall days like today!

Overall it’s a good wheat beer, though at 5,400won a pint, it seems a bit pricey.  If you are in HomePlus or E-Mart and willing to pay this much, you’d be better off grabbing a Weihenstephaner Hefe or a Paulaner Hefe if you are looking for something good.  Is this better than the Oettinger Hefe that is available all over??  Yes, but when you can get cans of Oettinger for 1,500won and change and have a nearly equal wheat beer, Oettinger seems like the way to go.

You can read the original post at Homebrew Korea.

The same trip to Homeplus I picked up the Kaiserdom Dunkel, I also grabbed a few bottles of this, Kozel Dark.

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My weekly trips to the supermarket, whether it be the Ori Homeplus, Jukjeon Emart or Suji LotteMart, always include a stroll down the beer aisle.  The other day in Homeplus I noticed a new bottle peering out at me: Kaiserdom Alt-Bamberger Dunkel.

I had never had this beer before, but as always, I had to give it a try.  While I’m not a huge fan of Dunkels, this one wasn’t too bad.  It poured very dark with a nice creamy head.  Aroma was of coffee and roasted malt.  Like I mentioned, I’m not a Dunkel kind of guy, but this was alright.  Tastes of chocolate and coffee with a fair amount of roasted maltiness mixed in.  It was slightly creamy with low carbonation, finishing off with a slight bitterness.

If you like Dunkels, then I would give this a try.  Even though this isn’t my favourite style, I won’t be afraid to toss a few of these into the cart every in a while.  Unfortunately I can’t remember the price, but pretty sure it was around 2,500won for a 12oz bottle.

You can read the original post at Homebrew Korea.

Homebrew Korea’s SMaSH Off

The beginning of the rainy season with the beginning of the World Cup discouraged the crowds at the 1st Homebrew Korea SMaSH Off, but it didn’t dampen spirits. Just the opposite. The mood was fun and party-ous as a dozen fine homebrew beers were passed around and judged. I wasn’t one of the judges, just a mooch.

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Homebrew Korea’s first SMaSH-Off festival has come and gone, but not without tasting a lot of great beers over warm discussions.  The weather didn’t quite cooperate with us, but Geckos Jukjeon has a great area inside which worked very well.

We sampled nine homebrewed beers and one mystery beer (Cass) which I threw in there to see if people could pick it out of the crowd.  Everyone brought lots of beer (too much to drink) and happily shared it with the public and chitchatted homebrewing.

Wamille (Bill Miller) brewed an excellent hoppy, yet well balanced SMaSH beer and walked away with first prize and a 50,000won gift certificate to The Maple Tree Korean BBQ courtesy of 10 Magazine, 2 free beer buffet tickets to Platinum, 2 tickets to see Celcil Beaton’s exhibition courtesy of 10 Magazine and a case of flip top bottle courtesy of GoodBeer Korea.

Mr. Kim of GoodBeer also brewed a fantastic beer, which placed him second in the contest.  Mr. Kim won a 30,000won gift certificate to Cafe Bene and 2 tickets to see Celcil Beaton’s exhibition both courtesy of 10 Magazine, and 2 free beer buffet tickets to Platinum.

KMac (Katelin MacNair), placed third with her homebrew which threw a strong pine aroma in your face and rounded things out with a nice finish.  Kate won 2 free beer buffet tickets to Platinum, 2 tickets to see Celcil Beaton’s exhibition courtesy of 10 Magazine and a case of flip top bottle courtesy of GoodBeer Korea.

I’d like to say thanks to all of the participants in the SMaSH-Off festival and to everyone who came afterwards for the free samples and homebrew chit chat.  Also, a big thanks to 10 Magazine and GoodBeer for donating prizes towards the event.  I am already looking forward to the next Homebrew Korea festival.

From Homebrew Korea.