Drinking rice beer with meaty snack

 

This time, I happened to choose two cans of Hanmaek in the fridge of a convenience store. This beer is a relatively new (in 2021) product of OB Beer. I was trying to find out Hite-Jinro’s new beer Kelly, but it was not anywhere yet. In reality, it was first time for me to know that Hanmaek is in the market because I have been very insensitive to what is going on with domestic beers.

The spokesmodel of the Hanmaek was an actor Lee Byung-hun. I think if you watched “Mister Sunshine”, then you may be familiar with his name. It was very unusual to employ such famous entertainer to promote it, reflecting on company’s seriousness to increase market share.

Hanmaek is a 4.6 % ABV (alcohol by volume) lager beer made by OB Beer with the intention of making a lager representing Korea. Unlike some malt beer released in last few years, domestic rice is used to produce this beer. OB Beer did not properly distribute its product in restaurants as it was released in the COVID-19 time. Even this year, almost two year after official release, I couldn’t see Hanmaek in any restaurants or eateries both in Bucheon and Seoul, meaning the marketing is not properly practiced yet.

I am a beer lover and always willing to taste new beers whenever they come to market. I selected protein-based snack for side dish for drinking, Jack Link’s beef jerky. Jack Link says its jerky is made with grass-fed beef of New Zealand. I prefer meaty foods to nuts and crispy snacks when I drink beer and this time is no difference. In my opinion, the taste of this jerky is good match with beer, but probably not with soju.

I remember that I used to drink Terra (product of Hite-Jinro) frequently and I was not happy with rather pungent taste. If you like whiskey and enjoy beer with stronger taste, Hanmaek may not be a good choice at all. To big contrast to Terra, Hanmaek is a product with a soft and clean flavor thus people like me who just want to seek old school way of light taste lager beer may be satisfied with sip of this beverage.

These days, whiskey is very popular, especially among young people, therefore, I think those who are inclined to drink hard liquor may not be happy with beers with soft flavor too. According to media coverage, the evaluation of liquor sales staff who have tried Hanmaek mentioned that this beer was difficult to appeal to young people because of the reason I mentioned; the softness of the beer is good for the elderly who feel okay with bright taste, but for young people, it is said to be bland, saying that there is no strong and cool taste.

Well…Is this proof that I am already too old to have a glass of malt beer with smile on my face? Could be, but I also think that it is really depends on. On one occasion, I remember that I had greasy foods in a local Chinese restaurant, and I was hungry, so I ate too much. Instead of taking digestives, I ordered a bottle of Terra and finished it in a second to neutralize greasiness lingering in my mouth with beer’s strong taste. Then it worked marvel, and not only dinking this beer removed bad feeling in my mouth but also fixed my stomach. I was happy to have even more foods without any problems!