Hansik Is Soaring — Now It Is Time to Think Seriously About Uri-sul
As Korean food commands attention in markets abroad, can Korean liquor ride the same wave and reach for a bigger stage? It is not a question with a clean answer, but it is one that experts kept coming back to with genuine interest. The domestic craft-beer scene has shifted, in fits and starts, over the past decade — and the way Korean liquor is made and consumed is shifting too, just as gradually. Experts who research and distribute Korean spirits agree the industry is still too young for anyone to draw its defining traits in sharp lines, but they also point out that plenty of platforms are already at work: studying brewing directions, and telling that story out to consumers.
Sommelier Kim Kyung-moon, who introduces and distributes Korean liquor in New York, notes that for now Korean liquor is consumed mostly inside Korean restaurants — and that turning a bottle's image into a brand is work that still lies ahead. Kim Tae-kyung, CEO of Amazing Brewery, which produces a range of domestic beers, described experiments that cross makgeolli and beer brewing methods, using ale yeast in makgeolli among other things.
Chef Park Sung-bae of Onjium, who studies Korean cuisine and drinking culture in depth, added that research into nuruk — the fermentation starter behind Korean liquor — needs to be pursued much more actively. Uri-sul still has a long road ahead on the world stage, but there was one point every participant returned to: if Hansik is to grow into a larger market, the cultural pairing with Uri-sul is not something you can leave out.
