Crafting Your Own Liquor by Hand Beside the Jars: The Traditional Liquor Gallery in Jongno

Tucked along a hanok alley in Seoul's Jongno-gu, the first floor of Hansik Culture Space Ieum (한식문화공간 이음), a space devoted to Korean food culture, houses a small gallery filled with nuruk (fermentation starter) and traditional liquor-making tools. This isn't a place just for looking — every month it runs a program where visitors knead nuruk and steamed rice by hand to brew their own liquor.

At a glance: Traditional Liquor Gallery (inside Hansik Culture Space Ieum), 18 Bukchon-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul · About 130m on foot from Exit 2, Anguk Station (Line 3) · Hours Tue–Sun 10:00–19:00 (closed Mondays) · Inquiries 02-555-2283, reservations via Naver Reservation ("Jeontongju Gallery") or email soolgallery2@gmail.com

This one-day class, called "Brewing My First Liquor," is a 90-minute experience in which participants brew their own makgeolli-style liquor using chrysanthemum flowers and rice. Since it's held only once a month, the exact schedule and participation fee need to be checked each time through the reservation channel.

If hands-on brewing feels like too much, there's also a standing, free tasting program. It runs seven sessions a day from noon to 6 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday (about an hour per session, capacity 10 people), and the 3–4 p.m. session is conducted in English, making it easy for foreign visitors to join without hesitation. As you brew, you can feel the steamed rice grains being crushed and clumping into a sticky mass under your fingertips, while the gallery is filled with the faint, tangy, nutty scent of fermenting nuruk.

Whether it's liquor you brewed yourself or one you sampled at a tasting, the tangy-sweet taste of freshly strained makgeolli, its gentle carbonation, and the grainy sweetness that lingers after each sip feel distinctly different from the kind bought at a convenience store.