Màkku’s makgeolli isn’t the similar. “Synthetic flavors are nonexistent in Màkku,” says Pak. “You’re intended to style the recent substances.” Certainly, Màkku has an earthy richness that unearths an unmistakable freshness.
Màkku is cheerfully candy however now not cloying, and at an approachable 6 % alcohol by way of quantity, it is a little more potent than a lager. There’s a tanginess to Màkku, in addition to a yogurty earthiness and velvety consistency that balances it out. It is available in a model without a added flavors, however extra common are the flavored sorts—passionfruit, blueberry, and mango—which can be made with natural cane sugar and recent fruit purees. The purees give the typically white makgeolli other pastel hues that are showcased when the drink is poured into a tumbler—one thing to look ahead to if you make a decision to not drink it instantly from the can.
Ahead of founding Sool, the corporate that makes Màkku, Pak labored for Anheuser-Busch, the beer trade chief in america. The corporate would have her trip the arena to pinpoint developments in natural and fermented drinks. Pak says the task used to be completely aligned with what she already does whilst touring. “All I cherish to do is uncover cool bars. Each time I trip, it is round like, what do they drink right here? It wasn’t such a lot about nightlife, however it used to be about finding the beverage tradition.”
Whilst visiting South Korea, some buddies took her to a makgeolli bar. Rising up in a Korean-American family in a in large part Korean group in Flushing, Queens, Pak’s number one belief of makgeolli used to be that it used to be one thing older other people loved. The TV displays she watched would display grandparents sipping on it as they rambled about makgeolli being the name of the game to dwelling a longevity.
So whilst going to a makgeolli bar used to be now not on her itinerary, as a beverage gourmand, she used to be intrigued. And that have modified her lifestyles. It used to be at those bars the place Pak learned “there’s so a lot more to makgeolli.”
“I feel it’s simply now not as large now as a result of other people simply don’t learn about it,” she says. “It merits a spot available in the market.”
She describes how, round 2010, makgeolli gross sales began declining in Korea, main the Korean govt to incentivize shoppers to drink the product in order that the ancient custom would now not fizzle out. In newer years alternatively, more youthful Koreans were eating it on their very own volition, even devoting their careers to it. Pak estimates the typical age of a Korean makgeolli brewer is now round 30, more or less part of what it as soon as used to be.