[Gu Eun-mo's SULjeori] "Alcohol Becomes Art" C Makgeolli, Creating a Makgeolli Like No Other in the World

<7> Yangpyeong 'C Makgeolli'①

Yearning for Creative Work... Leading to Makgeolli Brewing
Adding Originality with Rice, Nuruk, and Various Ingredients
Brewing Traditionally with Creative Combinations of Natural Color Foods
Relocated to Yangpyeong This Year, Accelerating Growth as a Local Specialty Wine

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] "Art is not about reproducing what is seen, but making it visible."

For Swiss painter Paul Klee (1879?1940), art was not merely about replicating the visible world as it is. Rather, it was about bringing forth what was previously unseen behind the visible, thereby making it visible, creating new sensations, and simultaneously providing others with opportunities for new perceptions to sprout. This was what he considered true art.

If creative activity that can be the source of inspiration is called art, then its form of realization can be anything. It can be music, painting, or architecture. And for some, it can even be alcohol. A place that continues its creative work with the belief that alcohol can also be art, a place that attempts not to reproduce what has been seen but to make the unseen visible?this is 'C Makgeolli.'

Exterior view of C Makgeolli

"I had a romance for creative work"

Choi Young-eun, CEO of C Makgeolli, recalled that throughout her more than ten years of working life, she always had a longing for creative work. Before brewing Makgeolli, she was a company employee who majored in foreign languages and business administration and worked at a financial company. After graduating from university in Korea, she went to Belgium for graduate studies, completed her program, and then worked locally as a management consultant in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Although her job was stable and well-paying, after more than ten years, her thirst for new challenges grew. Despite not being suited for corporate life, she endured for a long time but eventually quit her job and began studying art history in Singapore. Her major in art history later influenced her work in museum and art gallery management consulting at Kyung Hee University's Cultural Arts Management Research Institute, as well as her Makgeolli brewing activities.

Makgeolli became a professional pursuit for her while living between Singapore and Thailand. Choi said, "When I went to buy rice for brewing Makgeolli at an organic market in Thailand, I was struck by the colorful, beautiful, and high-quality rice, and it felt like a revelation. I suddenly thought I should start a brewery," recalling, "That was when I first decided to establish a brewery."

Makgeolli was not special to her from the start. The Makgeolli she drank during her university days was just a refreshing drink, nothing more or less. In fact, starting overseas at a young age exposed her to various alcoholic beverages, which led her to broadly indulge in beer, wine, and gin. She discovered the charm of Makgeolli after having already explored local drinks during her extended time abroad. She said, "Since the Makgeolli boom in 2009, many delicious Makgeollis have appeared. I started brewing myself because it was hard to find the drinks I used to enjoy during vacations in Korea while abroad, and that's how I got here."

She did not stop brewing even after returning to Korea in 2016. On the contrary, having returned to the birthplace of Makgeolli, her desire to study it properly grew stronger. As she steadily built her recipes while brewing alone and added systematic education, her skills took flight. As she became known in the homebrewer community for making unique drinks, more people became curious about and wanted to taste her beverages. Thus, C Makgeolli naturally emerged to the world in July 2020.

Inside the C Makgeolli Brewing Room

C Makgeolli makes Makgeolli visible in ways never seen before

Paul Klee said, "The purer a painting is?the more the formal elements based on drawing are emphasized?the less appropriate a realistic reproduction of visible objects becomes." The more elements of reproduction there are, the fewer elements of expression remain, and conversely, the more elements of expression increase, the fewer elements of reproduction there can be.

C Makgeolli focuses more on elements of expression than reproduction. It does not aim to reproduce the finest pure grain liquor made only from rice, nuruk (fermentation starter), and water, but rather to express new types of alcohol that have never been seen before by fermenting various additional ingredients together. In other words, when trying to reproduce the ideal of Makgeolli using only pure ingredients, the creator's scope for original expression diminishes. Therefore, C Makgeolli focuses on the expressive elements of additional ingredients to pursue and attempt unique creative activities?that is, brewing with artistic value.

CEO Choi emphasized that cultural content changes and evolves under various social and cultural influences of the times, regions, and seasons, and alcohol is also such contemporary cultural content. He said, "If this work were only about managing the quality of the same thing every day, it would be boring and unbearable. We need alcohol that reflects changing times and cultures, and to make such alcohol, we are having fun experimenting with various additional ingredients." While perfectly refined reproduction brewing has its meaning, he intends to realize unique creative brewing even if it is somewhat rough and subject to mixed evaluations.

The philosophy of CEO Choi is fully embodied in the name C Makgeolli. Unlike typical naming that emphasizes region or ingredients, C Makgeolli uses a single alphabet letter as the brewery's name. He named it C Makgeolli to mean Creative, Colorful, Cosmopolitan, Contemporary, Classic, and Craft Makgeolli. He explained, "The various concepts I think of are all contained in the single letter 'C.' I wanted to encapsulate diverse meanings concisely while also having extensibility and impact."

C Makgeolli releases new alcoholic beverages every month in addition to its regular product lineup.

Capturing new tastes, aromas, and textures through diverse ingredient combinations... 'Signature Cuvee'

The drink that embodies CEO Choi's philosophy and character is the 'Signature Cuvee.' Signature Cuvee is the product that best realizes C Makgeolli's basic brewing principle of using various additional ingredients. It is a two-stage distilled liquor fermented with basic ingredients rice and nuruk, along with juniper berries, raisins, and pear juice as additional ingredients. Signature Cuvee is a semi-dry Makgeolli with an alcohol content of 12%. While based on traditional nuruk, some improved nuruk and yeast are used for stable fermentation and a clean taste.

What makes Signature Cuvee special is, of course, its additional ingredients. Juniper berries, essential for gin, are used in Signature Cuvee; they are fermented whole with seeds and skins, imparting a slightly bitter tannin sensation in the mouth. However, one should not think that the bitterness dominates the flavor. CEO Choi uses multiple additional ingredients in all C Makgeolli products, including Signature Cuvee, to pursue complex flavors and aromas and to prevent one or two strong tastes or scents from disrupting overall balance.

He said, "When using additional ingredients, finding the optimal ratio among them is the most difficult part of recipe composition. Signature Cuvee is the drink I have researched the most to find a balance that is both safe and distinctive." He added, "If only juniper berries were used as an additional ingredient, the bitterness would be too pronounced, so we tested combinations of various plants to complement it, resulting in the current recipe."

Given the importance of additional ingredients in this brewing method, finding new ingredients and considering their harmony is also crucial. CEO Choi said, "I tend to remember the tastes and aromas of foods and drinks well, and having lived in Southeast Asia and other countries exposed me to many spices, so I get diverse ideas. I also get hints and inspiration from herb farms, medicinal herb markets, desserts, teas, and perfumes." He continued, "The important thing is to study how the taste and aroma of additional ingredients are realized when brewed and fermented together with rice and nuruk. I try all sorts of things, go through trial and error, and steadily build recipes."

C Makgeolli 'Signature Cuvee'

Transitioning to regional specialty liquor... embarking on full-scale 'scale-up'

This March, C Makgeolli relocated from Gangnam, Seoul, to Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi Province, and began full-scale growth. CEO Choi started the business two years ago with a small-scale liquor manufacturing license. Although recognition steadily increased and sales grew, the license's restriction on online sales clearly limited growth. He said, "I thought the only breakthrough for sustainable growth was to switch to a license that allows online sales. With support from the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' initial startup package, I obtained a regional specialty liquor license and moved to Yangpyeong."

Regional specialty liquor requires primarily using agricultural products produced in the respective region. This posed a challenge for C Makgeolli, which uses various additional ingredients. CEO Choi said, "My biggest concern before moving was that the choice of additional ingredients, which are like paints that add various tastes and aromas to Makgeolli, might be limited. However, Yangpyeong has many small-scale farmers cultivating eco-friendly, premium agricultural products, so it was not difficult to obtain rice and various herbs, which allowed me to decide to relocate."

Having planted his flag in Yangpyeong this year, CEO Choi said his most immediate goal is to firmly establish C Makgeolli as a regional specialty liquor of Yangpyeong. He expressed his ambition, saying, "Being certified as a regional traditional liquor gives us authenticity as a traditional liquor. C Makgeolli will be reborn from the heart of Gangnam, Seoul, to a C Makgeolli imbued with the diversity of premium agricultural products from Gyeonggi Province."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.