Silver Grass Season on Mt. Myeongseongsan: Pocheon's Sanjeong Lake Pine Needle Wine

Autumn in Pocheon, When the Silver Grass Blooms — Sanjeong Lake Pine Needle Wine

Sanjeonghosu SolipjuDistilled Soju · 30% · 40·250·350ml술빚는 전가네

Pocheon City says the silver grass on Mt. Myeongseongsan (명성산) is in full bloom across wide fields every year from mid-October to early November, and this year's three festival days fall within that window. The Korea Tourism Organization counts the Myeongseongsan silver grass fields among Korea's five major silver grass sites. The festival is co-hosted by Pocheon City and the Pocheon Culture & Tourism Foundation. According to the foundation's notice, the opening ceremony is at 6 p.m. on Saturday, October 17, and Park Chang-geun (박창근), Park Ju-hui (박주희) and Yang Hye-seung (양혜승) are named for the celebratory performances. About 30 programs run over the three days, including a fireworks show over the water at Sanjeong Lake, a Silver Grass Flower Garden rest area, silver grass field activities and exhibitions, and food booths.

The founder of Sulbinneun Jeongane (술빚는 전가네) grew up at Sanjeong Lake (산정호수), walking more than ten ri (about 4 km) each day to attend elementary and middle school. According to the official website, after finishing university in Seoul the founder worked at Kyobo Life for 24 years, created the “Happy Retirement Institute” and did broadcasts and lectures, and earned a doctorate in business administration and taught at a university. The founder then decided to spend the second half of life back in the hometown, making a Korean liquor that would last. The brewery was founded in 2014 and received its license to make takju, yakju and distilled spirits in September of that year. Sanjeong Lake Pine Needle Wine was released in September 2018.

Gungye's Tears (궁예의 눈물), a makgeolli named after a historical figure (720 ml, 10% ABV), is presented in the official product description alongside the story of Gungye weeping bitterly after being captured by Wang Geon (왕건), as “a makgeolli made from the silver grass of that mountain.” The Sool (더술닷컴) lists its ingredients as Pocheon rice, nuruk and young silver grass shoots. Pine Needle Wine is not the only drink named for Sanjeong Lake. Sanjeong Lake Dongjeongchun Makgeolli (산정호수 동정춘막걸리), released in May 2015, recreates Dongjeongchun, known as one of the three most famous liquors of Joseon. According to Kukinews, it took the Grand Prize in the low-ABV takju category at the 2026 Korea Fine Liquor Competition, bringing its total to four awards at the competition. As for “Red Sanjeong Lake Liquor” (붉은 산정호주), a samyangju (triple-brewed liquor) that puts non-glutinous rice in the base mash and then adds glutinous rice and black glutinous rice in turn to the added mash, The Sool describes it as a drink whose color recalls the red autumn leaves reflected in Sanjeong Lake.

According to the official product description, Sanjeong Lake Pine Needle Wine is a 30% ABV spirit made by distilling Gungye's Tears twice and infusing it with the old pines of Sanjeong Lake. Its base liquor, Gungye's Tears, won a Grand Gold at the Traditional Liquor Best Trophy in January 2023. The brewery describes its spirits as distilled by “combining traditional and modern methods,” but does not disclose its distillation equipment or how long the spirit is left in the old pine. The brewery had already released three distilled spirits in October 2014, the month it opened, and in May 2018 it was selected as an “export sprout company” (수출새싹기업) and exported its spirits to Bulgaria. Sibling spirits made by distilling the same Gungye's Tears twice are Jeongane 61 (전가네 육십일도), a 61% ABV spirit passed through gromwell (jicho, 지초) instead of old pine, and the 45% ABV Jeongane 45 (전가네 사십오도), made from the same base liquor; Jeongane 61 comes in the same three sizes as the Pine Needle Wine, 40 ml, 250 ml and 350 ml.

Sanjeong Lake Pine Needle Wine comes in three sizes, 40 ml, 250 ml and 350 ml, at 30% ABV. The official product description gives it the hashtag “#SubtlePineNeedleAroma” (#은은한솔잎향). On the English page, it is introduced under the name “Sanjeong Lake Pine Needle Wine.” Going by the official product description, the base liquor Gungye's Tears is a 10% ABV makgeolli, while the twice-distilled Pine Needle Wine is 30%.

The brewery, which relocated in January 2022, is at 335 Sanjeonghosu-ro, Yeongbuk-myeon, Pocheon-si, Gyeonggi-do. According to the official website, it is open Monday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and its main phone number is 031-532-9708. It was selected as a Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs “Visiting Brewery” (찾아가는 양조장) in 2023 (valid through 2028, per The Sool), and the official website describes the brewery as a place that brews and sells gayangju (home-brewed liquor) made from natural ingredients with no chemical additives. According to the official website as of October 2026, the “Glutinous Rice Danyangju Brewing Experience” is a two-hour session at 30,000 won per person, with a minimum of five people. Same-day bookings are not accepted, and a confirmation call after booking is required. Participants cool steamed godubap rice and mix it with nuruk soaked in water to make the base brew, then take 2 liters of that brew home to strain and taste a week later. The experience space was rebuilt in October 2024 and an underground aging room for distilled spirits was added in June 2025; retail outlets are listed below.

When to drinkOn the night you return from the Mt. Myeongseongsan Silver Grass Festival, slowly open at home the bottle of Sanjeong Lake Pine Needle Wine you bought at the brewery and recall the silver grass trails and the lake you walked that day.

Where to drink it now

A place to visit · Sanjeong Lake and the Mt. Myeongseongsan Silver Grass Fields

The name Sanjeong Lake means “a well in the mountains,” and the lake was built in 1925 as an agricultural reservoir. It was designated a National Tourist Site in March 1977, and the Korea Tourism Organization cites the night mist over the lake in spring and autumn as a spectacular sight. Mt. Myeongseongsan, rising above the lake, is a 922.6 m mountain on the border between Yeongbuk-myeon, Pocheon, Gyeonggi, and Galmal-eup, Cheorwon-gun, Gangwon. Silver grass grows thick on its gentle eastern slope, making it a popular autumn hiking destination. The Korea Tourism Organization presents these fields as one of Korea's five major silver grass sites, along with Mt. Sinbulsan (신불산), Mt. Mindungsan (민둥산), Mt. Oseosan (오서산) and Mt. Cheongwansan (천관산).

2025 marked the 100th anniversary of the construction of Sanjeong Lake. The 28th Silver Grass Festival, held over three days from October 17 to 19 of that year around Sanjeong Lake and Mt. Myeongseongsan, took “A Hundred Years of Sanjeong Lake, a Journey Toward the Next Hundred” as its theme. Sulbinneun Jeongane also released a limited-edition distilled spirit in August of that year to mark the lake's 100th anniversary. This year's 29th festival is hosted by Pocheon City and the Pocheon Culture & Tourism Foundation, and inquiries go to 031-535-5135 (per the foundation's notice).