Moon & Lion Brewing

The SOOL Company offers many instructional opportunities on the brewing of makgeolli in English. Coming up soon (very soon!) is the Introduction to Brewing Makgeolli course, which will be hosted at Susubori Academy. If you are in Korea and want to learn how to brew makgeolli from the ground up, the folks at The Sool Company will get you started on your journey on the right foot. The next class is June 11th , but there are still a few spots left open! Check out the link below to sign up! The Sool Company: Introduction to Brewing Makgeolli If you can't make the class on June 11th, check back at The Sool Company's Classes page for your next opportunity. BONUS: If you mention that you were referred through Moon & Lion Brewing The Sool Company is offering 5% off your next class. How nice! The Sool Company: Classes Happy brewing!

Korean brewing has its own terminology to describe things specific to the craft. This series of posts, titled "Lexicon", aims to de-mystify this esoteric range of vocabulary, which can be a hurdle for those new to Korean traditional alcohol.  Today we are discussing makgeollli and soju. These are the most widely consumed Korean alcoholic beverages, in my opinion, so let's learn a little more about them.  Makgeolli 막걸리 Makgeolli is a cloudy rice wine, sometimes called a "farmer's drink", dong-dong ju, tak-ju, and maybe a few others. It is traditionally made by diluting the leftover lees or sediment from the brewing of clear, or filtered rice wine. The clear wine was typically reserved for the higher social classes, while makgeolli was left for commoners. The clear wine is called Cheongju. Makgeolli can take on many flavors and variations, which you may know if you're a reader of this blog. The archetypal makgeolli is made with rice, nuruk, an

The translation section has been updated with a recipe for making a makgeolli starter. The starter can be used to get your brew started off on the right foot, with a healthy, active colony of hungry yeast and a dose of enzymes. I've found this recipe to be very useful, and I go back to it from time to time when starting a fresh batch of makgeolli. It is also very easy to modify to your needs, and can be scaled without much difficulty. The recipe can be found here , or by using the navigation. Happy brewing!

Hibiscus Makgeolli Results We started this brew on January 21st and bottled on February 13th. Below is a progression of the fermentation, followed by bottling and tasting notes. For details on the process, see our previous post  Brew Preview: Hibiscus Makgeolli . Primary fermentation begins on 1/21. Room temperature is low, around 65 F. Our first photo is 9 days later on 1/30. Small voids are visible on the surface where CO2 bubbles floated to the top and popped. Notice the rice grains are still largely intact. The next snapshot is on 2/3. The rice grains are looking more soggy, but bubbles are still popping to the surface regularly. The whole brew looks thick due to the low water content of the brew. There isn't much difference on 2/7, but the edges of the rice grains are starting to blur.  Our final snapshot before bottling on 2/13. There is a slight glimmer to the top layer from the alcohol floating to the top of the brew. Bubbling has come to a

Learn to Make Makgeolli in Seoul! The Royal Asiatic Society is hosting Makgeolli Mamas & Papas (막걸리 마마스 & 파파스) for a Makgeolli Making Class in Seoul. The deadline has been extended, so if you are in the Seoul area I recommend you sign up. Seats are limited! Check below for details! Link:  Magkeolli Making Class Date: Sunday, February 12, 2017 -12:45pm to 4:00pm Destination(s): in Seoul Cost: 50,000W for members and 60,000W for non-members Instructors:Julia Mellor and Daniel Mclaughlin

Brew Preview showcases what is currently in the works at Moon & Lion.  We are currently working on a Hibiscus Makgeolli , which adds hibiscus petals to the primary fermentation. This brew is inspired by Jeff Rubidge's Hibiscus Makgeolli . I was able to try Jeff's brew at a recent makgeolli meetup and it was fantastic. This is our take on it. The goal to infuse a bit of hibiscus flavor and aroma, and to impart some of the lovely purple hibiscus color in our makgeolli. A few notes on this makgeolli: This is a nuruk only makgeolli, which means no additional brewing yeast was used  during the process. A starter (석임) was used to activate the yeast within the nuruk. The starter typically takes 1-2 days to activate to full potency. The hibiscus used is actually a hibiscus tea, which is dried and not fresh. Using fresh hibiscus will likely require a much greater volume of hibiscus. I'm trying a new brand of rice for this brew and future brews: T amanishiki Supe