막걸리[Makgeolli]

[julialim]

막걸리[Makgeolli]
: Korean traditional " raw[unrefined] rice wine"

막걸리 마셔본 적 있나요?
Have you ever try 막걸리?

막걸리는 한국 전통주입니다.

[trutherous]

Yes here.

I tried it. I will have a 'bowl' with friends, but I don't really like the flavor -I'd rather drink beer. Too bad they don't sell Cass beer here in the US.. or maybe that's a good thing for me.

Once upon a time, in a town called Los Angeles far far away... there was...

a small Korean restaurant that also sold their own homemade 막걸리 from a tiny glass refrigerator at one corner of the front entrance. Now this of course is not exactly legal in the US, but hey, if us Yankees can't read Korean then why not.

I was new to Korean but I could introduce myself and order my meal in Korean, AND I could read the hand drawn labels. They were selling gallon size plastic milk jugs of 막걸리 and just beside those were some 1/2 gallon jugs that said simply "약주" My curiosity got the better of me and I asked "약주가 무엇입니까?" I got an answer that was lengthy and candid - but I didn't have a clue as to what in the world the 아줌마 was saying. When she finished with "You Undastandu?" I replied "네," pretending that I did, "그러면 저도 하나 사겠읍니다."

I have no idea what type of spirit was in that jug, it was slightly clearer than 막걸리, and went down smooth as water. I had three large tumblers of the stuff that evening - I think I kissed a 70-yr old grandmother in the parking lot... not sure what other fool things I did. What I remember most vividly was spending most of the night in my apartment bathtub running cold water over my head and trying to get chunks of kimchi out of my nose.

Bottom line: Beware homemade booze bearing the label "약주"