A recent trend among drinkers, along with flavored soju, is the growing popularity of microbrews. Building on this, there's happy news now for beer-drinkers because a new variety of barley has recently been developed that was designed specifically to make a more delicious beer.

Heukho, or black two-row barley, was developed from a barley variety called hopum that was first grown in 2003 and which is the most common barley for brewing beer in Korea. This new variety germinates well without losing much starch, while being low in protein, making it suitable for beer.



Varieties of beer barley have been developed in Korea since the 1960s. This new black barley is high in polyphenols and anthocyanins, both known as antioxidants. Starting in 2016, Korean farms will be able to purchase this strain of barley, if they so wish.

By Chang Iou-chung
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photos: Yonhap News, Rural Development Administration
icchang@korea.kr