Guksundang

How It Began

The name Guksundang comes from Guksunjeon (麴醇傳), a Goryeo-era tale by Im Chun that portrays liquor as a person. The company interprets the name as “the house (堂) that makes good nuruk (麴) and good liquor (醇).” The official history names the Korea Microbial Industry Research Institute, founded in April 1970, as its predecessor. The institute started out producing wheat-bran nuruk (gokja).

Wikipedia names Bae Sang-myeon as the founder and Girin Brewery, which Bae Sang-myeon founded in Daegu in 1952, as the parent company. The same article explains that Girin Brewery became Baehan Industry Co., Ltd. in February 1983. The official history records the same point only as “Baehan Industry Co., Ltd. founded” and does not mention Girin Brewery. Both sources agree that the company changed its name to Guksundang Co., Ltd. in December 1992.

Bae Jung-ho became CEO in December 1992, and Baekseju was released the same year. As a latecomer in the early days of sales, Bae ran “guerrilla marketing,” personally visiting bars and restaurants in outlying areas. In 1993 the company acquired a makgeolli factory in Toegyewon, Namyangju, and began producing makgeolli. According to the official history, the Hoengseong plant was completed in June 2004.

How the Liquor Is Made

Guksundang's Korean liquor revival project began in May 2008 with the revival of Changpoju. Jaju and Ihwaju followed in August of the same year, and according to the company profile it has revived 22 traditional liquors so far. The brewing methods of the revived liquors are also made public. The revived liquors are named Beopgo Changsin (法古創新), meaning “building on the old without losing its roots, while renewing it.”

Ihwaju was a liquor enjoyed in the Goryeo period, and Guksundang used the early-1500s text Suun Japbang as the source for its revival. The text says to grind 1 mal of non-glutinous rice finely, shape it into ring cakes (gumeongtteok), mix in 1 doe 3 hop of nuruk, put it in a jar, and use it after 15 days. The ingredients are rice and ihwa nuruk, and the liquor type is takju.

Because Ihwaju uses nuruk made from rice, its color is white like pear blossoms, unlike other makgeolli with a yellowish tint. Most nuruk is disc-shaped, but the ihwa nuruk described in the text was ball-shaped. Guksundang shaped nuruk into various forms, rectangular, cylindrical and disc, to compare them, and the nuruk grew best in the ball shape, which has the least contact area. Guksundang Ihwaju was revived by researcher Park Seon-young.

Signature Liquors and Lineage

The Beopgo Changsin website presents Ihwaju as the second revived liquor, but the official history lists it as the “third,” together with Jaju in August 2008, so the records differ. The product was released in 2010 in a 400ml size and now comes in 400ml and 700ml ceramic bottles at 12.5% ABV. Two explanations are handed down for the “Ihwa (梨花, pear blossom)” in the name: that it was brewed around the time pear trees bloom, and that its color is white like pear blossoms.

Ihwaju is thick enough to eat with a spoon, and tastes both sweet and sour. Because it is eaten rather than drunk, it has little carbonated freshness and a texture like eating cream. thesool.com presents it as a dessert liquor that can be enjoyed without food.

Baekseju was released in 1992. It is brewed with the patented “raw rice fermentation method,” in which raw rice is ground into flour to make the liquor, with herbal ingredients such as goji berry, omija, ginseng and cornus fruit. In 2008 the company co-developed Seolgaengmi, a rice variety made specifically for brewing, with the Rural Development Administration.

Recognition

Guksundang's Hoengseong Brewery was selected as a Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs “Visiting Brewery” in May 2019. The experience space inside the brewery is called Juhyangro, meaning “a path full of the scent of liquor.” In November 2011, the Beopgo Changsin Bangcheong Okgyeol set won the Pack Star Award in the liquor category at the 20th Korea Package Design Exhibition. At the 2021 Korea Liquor Awards, 100 Billion Probiotic Makgeolli and 100 Billion Prebiotic Makgeolli (takju) and Ryeo (soju) won grand prizes.