Gwangju? More like Gwang-brew!

Having lived in southern China for the last year, beer selection was extremely limited with barely passable beers in Tsing Tao, Harbin, and Pearl River. The end of my stay, however, saw some familiar bottles I've had before making it into restaurants such as Rogue Brewery from Portland, OR, Rochefort Brewery from Rochefort, Belgium (listed in a 2012 issue of Men's Journal as one of the world's top 25 beers. Read here.), and Sierra Nevada Brewing in Chico, CA. This is not to say that China didn't have beer at all; there was. In fact, one of my favorite spots was in Zhujiang New Town in Guangzhou. If you ever find yourself in the area, check out The Strand Beer Cafe off the Wuyangcun metro stop. The owner, David Strand brewed all the beers "in-house" (actually somewhere a bit away from his bar) and that was the closest I've ever gotten to tasting craft beer since living back in the US. Before his bar, was a South African bar, Moutia, whose owner Martin was a South African wine and South African beer merchant. Those were quite delightful as well.

Fast forward one year later and I'm here in South Korea, unaware and ignorant to the beer scene. In a store not too far from me are beers you can definitely find in your local grocery store such as Lost Coast Brewery from Eureka, CA, Hoegaarden Brewery from Hoegaarden, Belgium, and Samuel Adams from Boston, MA. After growing fond of the beer scene in my hometown of San Diego, CA, mind you it's an acquired taste to build up those IPA muscles, I just can't drink lagers since they lack that "hoppy" kick to the tastebuds. Stumbling into a popular expat Canadian-owned bar in Gwangju, The First Alleyway, there is a small but high quality selection of beers including those brewed locally in Seoul.

Let's get to it, shall we?

First up, we have Craftworks' Jirisan Brewery Moon Bear IPA from Seoul, Korea. It had that hoppy kick I was looking for as well as a sweet, citrus kind of flavor that pleasantly took me by surprise. Overall, it will definitely do its job in keeping me satisfied for my IPA fix.

Next up, also from Craftworks is Buk Han San Pale Ale. This was a lovely little beer, reminiscent of a California beer from Firestone Brewery. There was a nice full flavor without being too full of its self. If Amber Ale is one end of the ale spectrum with IPA on the other, this Pale Ale leans closer to that of IPA.

I know they may not be brews that I'll find back home, but it's nice to know that I won't have to digest another sip of Tsing Tao or worse yet, Pearl River. It's even nicer that if I want, I CAN get a legitimate taste of home, granted it costs a few dollars more, but it's nice to have that peace of mind.