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Oriental Brewery spotlights Icheon craft beer ahead of International Beer Day
By KIM MIN-YOUNG, Korea JoongAng Daily -
Oriental Brewery said Thursday it had held a staff brewing event at its Icheon
brewery in Gyeonggi ahead of International Beer Day, which falls on the first
Friday of August.
About 50 employees took part, among them
Brian Koo, vice president of legal and corporate affairs; Kim Doo-young,
director of the Icheon brewery; and June Kim, brewmaster.
The centrepiece was a craft beer made
from local produce and named Cheers from Icheon. Brewmasters at the Icheon
brewery spent three weeks developing the recipe, working from three of the
county's better-known crops: Imgeumnimpyo rice, Janghowon peaches and cornelian
cherries from Baeksa-myeon. The ingredients were fermented alongside malt.
Participants toured the brewery's
on-site beer museum, which covers the development of the Korean brewing
industry and the company's own history and methods, then tasted six craft beers
in the brewery's craft lounge, including Cheers from Icheon.
The second half of the programme was
instructional, covering fermentation, maturation and filtration, alcohol
production and carbonation. Participants also bottled a separately prepared
batch as a home-brewing exercise.
An Oriental Brewery representative said
the event was intended to give head office and plant staff direct exposure to
Korean beer culture and to Icheon's produce, and that the company would
continue to draw attention to the role beer plays in supporting regional
agriculture and local economies.
Oriental Brewery, founded in 1933 and
owned by AB InBev since 2014, operates breweries in Icheon, Cheongju and
Gwangju, and produces the Cass and Hanmac brands.
