Wednesday Lessons #35: Alice Jun, Hana Makgeolli

WEDNESDAY LESSONS #35: ALICE JUN, HANA MAKGEOLLI 7/17/24

VISIT US: Hana Makgeolli’s Tasting Room is open for indoor dining. We offer our sool by the glass or carafe to pair with a variety of house made anju.

Location: 201 Dupont Street, Brooklyn NY Hours: Friday 5 PM - 10 PM Saturday 12 PM - 10 PM Sunday 12 PM - 9 PM

Purchasing bottles from tonight’s class: Usually, we have bottles available for purchase to take home after class. However, due to distributor shipping delays, we won’t receive our Hana allocation until Friday. If you’d like to place an order today, we will honor our usual offer of 2 bottles = class is free (save $20) and we will send you an email or text when your order is ready to pick up (Friday ETA) or ship ($25/ orders go out Monday). Note that supplies are limited, with only 6-18 bottles available of each SKU.

MAKGEOLLI 1

YAKJU 14 Clarified Bottle (750ml): $46 (12 avail)

ABV: 14% Stages: 5 (oyangju) Fermentation Time: 60-70 days Characteristics: Light bodied, dry, with subtle notes of melon, citrus and deep grain.

Historically reserved for the noble class, Yakju is the precious clarified portion of a brew that captures the essence of sool in its purest form. The Yakju 14 is an oyangju (5 stage brew) made with organic rice and fermented to dryness over 5 weeks, then coarsely filtered and aged for an additional 3 weeks to separate the clear wine from the sediment for a dry, light bodied wine with fragrant notes of melon, bitter citrus, and barley.

MAKGEOLLI 2

HWAJU 12 + Chrysanthemum, Hydrangea Bottle (750ml): $45 (6 avail)

ABV: 12% Stages: 4 (sayangju) Fermentation Time: 35 days Characteristics: Light bodied, dry, earthy, delicately floral and bright with lactic acid

Stemming from the Korean root words hwa and ju, Hwaju can translate to both flower wine and fire water. Inspired by the traditional herbal and flower infused sools that can only be found in Korea, the Hwaju 12 is a sayangju (4 stage brew) made with organic rice, fermented to dryness then infused with chrysanthemum flowers and hydrangea tea leaves. The finished product is dry, light bodied, earthy, and floral, with a soft tannic quality from the flowers.

MAKGEOLLI 3

OMIJA + Omija, Hibiscus Bottle (500ml): $32 (12 avail)

ABV: 10% Stages: 3 (samyangju) Fermentation Time: 30 days Characteristics: Medium body with notes of apple, lemon drop and amber honey, soft acidity, off dry

The first makgeolli to return from our smaller batch, seasonal experiments - the Omija Makgeolli is a samyangju (3 stage brew) fermented over 4 weeks with the addition of omija (schisandra) berries and hibiscus flowers directly into the mash for the last 7 days of fermentation. Bone dry, light in body and with an ABV of 10%, this makgeolli is perfectly refreshing for the warmer season and possesses a subtle, salty, peppery and tangy profile from the omija berries.

MAKGEOLLI 4

HYUNMI TAKJU Oragnic sweet brown rice Bottle (750ml): $45 (6 avail)

ABV: 16% Stages: 4 (sayangju) Fermentation Time: 45 days Characteristics: Medium bodied, near dry, with notes of warm chestnut and earth

A relatively new addition to the Hana Makgeolli family and the start of a new line of sool featuring different rice varietals, the Hyunmi Takju is made with 60% organic sweet brown rice using traditional Korean brewing methodologies. The Hyunmi Takju is a sayangju (4 stage brew), fermented over the course of 6 weeks. It is assertive and dark to start and then softens on notes of warm chestnut and earth.

MAKGEOLLI 5

TAKJU 16 Flagship Bottle (750ml): $37 (18 avail)

ABV: 16% Stages: 3 (samyangju) Fermentation Time: 28 days Characteristics: Full bodied, off dry, lactic, with floral and fruity notes of melon, green apple & pineapple

Inspired by Alice’s family’s home-brew recipes, Takju 16 is a samyangju (3 stage brew) made with organic rice, nuruk, and filtered water. Fermented to near dryness, coarsely filtered and undiluted to maintain the full spectrum of flavors typical of a jeontongju (traditionally made Korean alcohol). It starts with the extremely floral, almost melon-like character of fermented rice, which is followed by the brightness of our wild yeast and the creaminess of the naturally occurring lactic acid and rice sediment.

Sunflower Sake is a retail shop, tasting room, and educational center in Portland, Oregon, focusing on craft sake from around the world. Sunflower ships year-round and offers affordable, biweekly Wednesday sake classes. Thank you so much for joining us tonight!

107 SE Washington St. #121, Portland, OR 97214 web: www.sunflowersake.com IG: @sunflowersake email: nina@sunflowersake.com

Printed on the sheet as #35; sequenced here by date.