Comments on: Prime Max Taste Test

By: Max Watson

Max Watson — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 10:40:33 +0000

I certainly can’t argue with this beer’s name.

By: R. Elgin

R. Elgin — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 04:36:39 +0000

Thanks to our man No Mu Han, KAL will start flying directly to Athens, where they have good bars all over. Their Korean is not very good but their bars are far better than Seoul.

By: michael

michael — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 01:28:55 +0000

Three Alley is great, but it’s a pub (bright lights and a patio), not a bar. I mean like:
http://losangeles.citysearch.c.....alty_id=86

By: Wedge

Wedge — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 00:55:23 +0000

I think you guys need to hang in anju-free Itaewon a bit more. 3 Alley has some excellent reasonably priced brews on tap, including the fine Alley Cat Ale from Edmonton (a classic West Coast-style pale ale), and they do clean those taps.

By: michael

michael — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 00:37:52 +0000

“if there is a good bar in Seoul, I have not found it yet” Second that. Outside of the swanky hotels there’s nowhere to go to just sit and have a quiet drink in a place without being pushed to buy some shitty, overpriced fruit plate anju thing by people who like to twirl bottles around like Tom Cruise in “Cocktail” and yet can’t make an actual cocktail.

I don’t expect a Musso & Frank’s level of bar, just a bar for grownups. And Korean beer sucks ass.

By: slim

slim — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 19:33:33 +0000

Three Alleys Pub has a few decent Belgian brews on tap.

By: Zonath

Zonath — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 15:19:14 +0000

Luckily hops have no such duty

Really? Gee, if hops are cheaper than the other beer ingredients, you’d think they’d actually use them. I always attributed the PPQ of Korean beer largely to the utter lack of hoppiness… more so than the fact that they don’t use much malt (and make up the balance with rice).

By: R. Elgin

R. Elgin — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 12:44:48 +0000

There is an amazing mark-up on everything: wine, beer, magazines — anything of quality, that is ridiculous.

Additionally, if there is a good bar in Seoul, I have not found it yet. Many places are clip joints that try as hard as they may to seperate one from their money by requiring one to purchase appetizers to go with their beer or just plain selling imported beer for 7,000 - 12,000 won per bottle. Most draft beer (with a few exceptions in Seoul) I’ve tasted seems to have additives or the taps are just plain dirty.

After visiting a good bar in Europe , one is inclined to avoid spending their money out in Seoul.

By: Wedge

Wedge — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 09:24:20 +0000

One reason the beer sux here is the huge duty on imported malt (something like 275%). Luckily hops have no such duty, but good malt is key to good beer, and the local malt, which is monopolized by the big brewers, is crap.

By: Zonath

Zonath — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 05:00:16 +0000

Hite Prime Max, huh? Somehow, something tells me that this trend of adding impressive-sounding words onto beer names could continue. So that, in 2020, Hite will be producing Hite Prime Max Super Ultra Numa-Numa Wiki Babaganooj Pro.

Funny review. Almost makes me wish I were back in Korea so that I could try this new beer thing (but I can buy real beer here, so why bother?)