North Korea is such a busy place nowadays, especially considering the early fourth of July celebration they threw for Americans everywhere with their fireworks show. All this and now the first North Korean advertising for beer, on TV. Per the BBC:
Billed as the “Pride of Pyongyang”, the advert promises drinkers that the beer will help ease stress.
The TV spot perhaps sets a record as well as for being the longest beer commercial on TV running for two-and-one-half minutes.
Concurent to this new age in North Korean advertising, North Korea is also facing a critical food shortage that is posed to threaten more than a few children as well.
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I’ve had that beer. It’s not bad.
Great title for the post.
I’d bet only the nomenklatura are drinking those export-quality suds.
That’s got a surreal quality to it – I wonder how many of the average NKers can enjoy this beer, seeing how the commercial was apparently made for the domestic market – maybe also the NK faction in Japan.
Boy, listening to that tune really makes you want to have a beer.
Saw a report on the BBC this morning that the brewery was shipped from the UK and reassembled in the North. Maybe then Korea can finally produce a good beer.
Japan – good beer
China – good beer
Vietnam – good beer
Philippines – good beer
Korea – Shite Hite and Ass Cass
They must be allowed to starve, it is the only way.
Andrew,
Don’t forget BO.
In any case…
Although the average South Korean beer is far from being one of the finest brews one can have, it meets the demands of the average South Korean consumer who wants a sweeter beer that compliments the saltiness of the local cuisine.
Andrew, it’s no the equipment that matters the most. You can have the most advanced brewery in the world (apparently, it’s located in Chongju), you still won’t produce a product that will have the experts singing your praises if that’s not the type of beer you are trying to produce.
This must be the ‘red’ beer that I blogged about over one year ago. According to some beer critics, it ain’t bad.
Jeffery Hodges
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It reminds me how similar North and South are at the heart of their bottoms. Instead of focusing on enjoyment of beer and the fun things we do when drinking beer we get a story about how they have people in white coats doing quality control, stuffy guys in suits being served by stuffy women in 한복, factory assembly lines busy making uniform green bottles and an ending with trucks doing distribution. It’s all about showing off status and shiny industrial tools instead of making and enjoying great beer. Ick.
I’ve had it. It was a bit rough but better than I expected. It had a slightly spoiled taste though, and I don’t think that I can drink a lot of it in a sitting. I think SK beer is okay. Hite is alright if it is really cold. It has more flavor than say a Budweiser. Also there are some Korean Microbreweries comming out, so I think that people’s tastes just have to change. I don’t think that many Koreans like beer that much, they just like the drunk. If they did then they would stop mixing soju with it.
When I travel with Koreans to the US and elsewhere on business they’re looking for Budweiser and other bland lagers to drink with the Shin Ramen they bring on the trip. Their reflex is to hole up as a group in one of our hotel rooms and drink watery beer.
NK should export their beers to South Korea, then they all can have good times together.
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