This is the fifth part of our series, “Alcohol in Korean life.” Click here to see the previous parts.

Munbaeju, Wild Pear Liquor

Origin and Transmission

Munbaeju, or wild pear liquor, originated from Pyongyang in the present-day North Korea during the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392). During the reign of King Taejo (r. 918–943), officials competed to give gifts of liquor to the king in order to win high position in the court. The person who offered munbaeju was endowed with the highest-ranking title. Since then, munbaeju was made for the king and thence spread to the general public in the late Goryeo period.

Pyongyang is notorious for freezing weather in winter and therefore people there enjoyed alcoholic spirits. Munbaeju is a kind of distilled spirit, or soju, with high alcohol content. Sorghum and millet native to Pyongyang are used as the starch source. During the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) when the traditional liquor culture was at its peak, even commoners enjoyed luxury alcohols made in a simplified process, and the upper class developed the practice of distilling brewed alcohols. In this context, munbaeju became wildly popular.

Munbaeju has been handed down to Master Lee Gi-chun, the fifth-generation grandson of its originator, Lee Seok-seung. It was a secret liquor for the Pyeongjangsa line of the Jeongju Lee clan. Lee Seok-seung built two breweries in Gamheung-ri, Pyongyang: the Pyeongcheon Brewery and the Daedong Brewery. The brewing skills were handed down to his daughter-in-law and were then transmitted for the next 150 years within the family. The father and grandfather of today’s Lee Gi-chun inherited the family business to run the breweries. His father, Lee Gyeong-chan, fled south with the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950. After the war ended in 1953, Lee Gyeong-chan settled in Miari, Seoul, and built a brewery, producing munbaeju trademarked as “Geobukseon.” The transmission of munbaeju not only shows the history of one family but also parallels the history of traditional Korean liquors which survived turmoil and disorder through colonial rule, war and the drive toward modernization. Munbaeju was designated as an Important Intangible Cultural Heritage in 1986.

Munbaeju was served at the South Korea–Soviet Union summit in 1991 and at the ceremonial party for President Roh Tae-woo’s visit to the United Nations the same year, proving its worth as a traditional liquor. Not confined by national boundaries, the liquor famous for its fruity scent of wild pear is now exported to Japan, the United States and Europe.

Brewing Process

Making watery nuruk

Wheat is usually used for making the nuruk for munbaeju. It is roughly ground in a millstone and mixed with water to make a nuruk dough, which is put in a frame and pressed into shape. The nuruk is put in a cool place for 14 days to let the fungi germinate and then dried under the sun.


What is unusual about munbaeju is that it uses a watery nuruk. A jar is neatly cleaned and dried and sterilized in boiling water. The nuruk and water are mixed inside the jar to make a watery nuruk. The ratio of nuruk to water is 3.6 liters (2 doe) to 16.6 liters (3 hop). The watery nuruk helps with the culture of yeast and the extraction of enzymes, and controls the growth of unwanted bacteria. Keeping the temperature at 25 degrees Celsius, the watery nuruk is left to stand for four days and on the fifth day it is used for brewing.

Making the Primary Mash

Millet is cleaned and steeped in water for one day, then put in a steamer to make hard-cooked millet. When the steamer gives off steam, water is added and the millet is brought to a boil over a strong fire for 20 minutes before it steams again. When the millet is properly cooked, it is spread out on a straw mat to cool down.

When the millet is cool, it is mixed with the ready-made watery nuruk and water. The ratio of the primary mash ingredients is 27 liters (1 mal and 5 doe) of millet to 3.6 liters (2 doe) of nuruk to 16.6 liters (3 hop) of water.

A jar containing the mixture is draped with a blanket and put in a warm spot on the heated floor for fermentation over two days. When the jar is uncovered, a swooshing sound is heard along with bubbles surging up. The jar cools down while the contents are stirred with a rice paddle in the cool breeze. Proper fermentation of the primary mash is a prerequisite for quality munbaeju, to acquire the scent of wild pears.

Making the Secondary Mash

Sorghum is rubbed vigorously while washing to remove the red coloring and bitterness and then soaked in water for one day. The sorghum should be properly hard-boiled with the grain adequately disintegrated, but not too watery. The hard-boiled sorghum is spread on a straw mat for cooling. When the sorghum is cool, it is put in a wide vessel and evenly mixed with the primary mash.

The mixture is put in a jar which is draped with a blanket and put in a place where the temperature is at 25 degrees Celsius. The next day, when bubbles appear on the surface, the jar is cooled down.

Munbaeju is a type of samyangju, a grain liquor produced by a triple fermentation process, since its source of starch-- the millet and sorghum-- is harder to ferment than rice. For munbaeju to be properly fermented, the additional mashes are made when fermentation in the primary mash is most active. One or two days after making the secondary mash, the tertiary mash is made with the same ingredients and in the same method as the secondary mash, but undergoes fermentation for 10 days. When the first-phase fermentation slows and the jar is cooled, the jar is draped with a blanket for the second-phase fermentation period of eight days.

Distillation

It takes 21 days of fermentation to make munbaeju: five days for the nuruk, five days for the primary mash, one day for the secondary mash and 10 days for the tertiary mash. When fermentation is completed, the mash is then put in a distiller, or a sojutgori, to produce the liquor. Distilling is a method of extracting pure alcohol based on the different boiling points between water and alcohol. The purpose of distilling is to produce a clear spirit with a good fragrance and a high alcohol content. After distillation, the munbaeju is placed in a jar and put in a dark place to age for six to 12 months.

Ambrosial Distillate

The word munbae refers to the wild pear, a fruit the size of an adult’s fist and noted for its hard texture, strong aroma and sour taste. The name munbaeju literally means “liquor with the scent of a wild pear,” denoting that munbaeju is fragrant. What is remarkable is that the major ingredients of munbaeju are just grain and nuruk, but the final product has a fragrance beyond what the original ingredients had to start with. Other drinks, like myeoncheon dugyeonju, is actually made with the addition of an aromatic source, azalea petals, but not munbaeju.

With a high alcohol content of 40 percent, munbaeju is not poisonous but has both a sour and a sweet taste. One cup of munbaeju gives off an intense pear scent and has a smooth flavor, both of which are attributable to the three fermentations, the distillation and the long period of aging.

Munbaeju is a sungok soju: a distilled spirit made only from grain. Soju is made by distilling brewed liquors in a steamer or a distilling pot. Most traditional Korean alcoholic beverages are brewed with a low alcohol content of 11 to 19 percent and therefore have a short shelf life. To make up for this shortcoming, distilling was developed. Distilled spirits usually have more than 20 percent alcohol and therefore can be stored for a longer period without going bad. Munbaeju is a rare example of a grain liquor which undergoes three stages of fermentation. Samyanju is also such a liquor, usually consumed after three fermentations, but munbaeju is further processed by distillation afterward, resulting in its unique flavor that comes from the volatile materials created during distillation.

*This series of article has been made possible through the cooperation of the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage. (Source: Intangible Cultural Heritage of Korea)