Our First Bourbon Meeting in Seoul!

Despite the endless perks that came with growing up in Europe, I recently realized that it had left me rather clueless to a whole world of bourbons in the other side of the world.  I mean it’s not that I’m complaining, having access to your dad’s whiskey cabinet is great especially if he has a taste for Scotch Whisky (and in particular single malt!).  Which is why, I remember when I had my first proper Old Fashioned made with Maker’s Mark, I was surprised to how easily and quickly it became my favourite cocktail. There’s something that’s mischievously silky and incredibly smooth and deep about the Maker’s Mark that you can’t really find in a Scotch that I simply adore.

Things quickly escalated from my first drink and I soon joined a bourbon club (Korea Bourbon Club) on meetup and made it my annual bucket-list item to attend one of their tastings. The organizer, Mark, has events running around once a month at various venues. I’ve been dying to go since the beginning of the year, but my schedule always seemed to clash with the planned monthly events (that and I was secretly terrified of attending alone without much knowledge of bourbon). Which was why when I finally acquired and tested (HE LIKES WHISKEY TOO) the confirmed side kick/boyfriend, who was equally naïve in regards to bourbon, we scheduled in our first ever bourbon tasting.

I was actually really worried I’ll look foolish and silly for my lack of knowledge in between experts and connoisseurs but the event was actually a lot of fun and informative! Mark and his wife was there to greet us at All that Meat (압구정 / Apgujeong) and immediately made us relax with their easy demeanors.  In total 6 of us were there for the meet-up (Mark told us that it usually was 6 – 8 people per meetup). The evening actually was actually really relaxed evening of conversations on various topics ranging from obviously alcohol, politics, Korea etc. with Mark’s instruction/notes on each Bourbon as we slowly progressed through the dinner and drinks.

The menu for the tasting was as following for 70,000 won per person:

Dinner Menu:

• Abalone Shrimp Cevice

• Foie Gras Cranberry Pie 

• Ceasar Salad

• BBQ Combo Platter: Beef Brisket, Pork Rib, Smoked Duck, Smoked Pigs Feet

• Escargot & Mushroom Pizza

• Creme brulee or Brownie with Ice-cream

Tasting Flight: 

• Maker's Mark

• Maker's 46

• Buffalo Trace

• Blanton's 

• Four Roses Single Barrel

The food was terrific, although Lee definitely noticed it more as I was too absorbed in my drinks / various historical and tasting-notes on each drinks.  Rather than it being overly technical, Mark provided us real easy cues to look for in terms of flavours (he even provided us with info-sheet on each explaining the content/flavours etc.) Also he walked us through how we should approach first smelling and then tasting the bourbon (straight).

Having only have tasted Maker’s Mark out of the 5 bourbons, I was delighted to taste and smell such a surprisingly distinct variety of profiles. Nonetheless, my favourite of the night was Maker’s 46, which was much smoother and had stronger scent of Vanilla than Maker’s Mark.  Apparently, there’s currently no major distributor/importer carrying Maker’s 46 (even finding Maker’s Mark is difficult) so it’s definitely an item I’ll be looking for next time I step outside the country. Lee’s favourite was Blanton’s, which I thought had the sharp taste profile similar to scotch whiskey than others. Each bottle’s detail in design and bottling was immaculate and scarily enough I could see myself starting to collect them if it becomes easier to get my hands on them!

What we had feared to be an overly technical and rather ‘difficult’ evening turned out to be one of the best dinner parties I’ve been to all year. I’m definitely looking forward to the next meet up and in the meanwhile upping our bourbon game! (OLD FASHIONED WITH CARDAMOM BITTERS & MAPLE SYRUP)

If you’re interested in bourbon (with or without much knowledge on it), you should definitely come around for a tasting and enjoy the night at what I think is a great –valued deal.

Jokbal (Pigs Feet) and Whisky in Gongdeok Jokbal Street!

 궁중족발  (Gungjung Jokbal)

서울특별시 마포구 만리재로 23

(서울특별시 마포구 공덕동 256-30)

Exit 5 - Gongdeok Station 

(walk straight until you see the street to the right)

02-718-7087

Naver Maps

www.mapo-gungjungjokbal.co.kr/

Ever since coming to Seoul, I repeatedly heard about the 'jokbal street' in Gongdeok. 

How awesome is it that they have a street dedicated to pigs feet. I admit, it doesn't look or sound very appetising, but hey sometimes the grittiest scariest looking food turns out to be the best food!

I've been wanting to go check it out for sometime but had been saving it up for a rainy day when all you could think about is a bottle of soju and 'meat'. So one evening after a long week at work, we decided to meet outside gongdeok station to head down to the street.

I swear my boyfriend and his friend must think I'm one sketchy individual after all the alleyways I've dragged them into in exchange for a good but slightly less hygienic meal. Hey, but I do always deliver excellent meals though!

So tonight I lead them to the narrow alleyway of Jokbal Street.  All the restaurants seen above in the tiny side-alleway sell Jokbal and Sundae. There are couple of more famous ones: 오향족발 (Ohhyangjokbal) being probably the most well known and 궁중족발 (gungjungjokbal) coming close. I don't think there's a big difference in quality and they all have the same price-level too.

궁중족발 actually have 4 restaurants next to each other all served from one massive kitchen half indoor and half outdoor. 

I mean look at that! (At least they wear gloves right?)

Anyways the menu is pretty straight forward. Order either the small ($26) or large ($30) and a bottle of soju and beer. The small one should be enough for 2 adults (or 3 if you're not a big eater) and large for a bigger group.  The menu comes with UNLIMITED sundae and sundae-soup. Now that's what I call a good deal. 

As it is with these soju-fuelled restaurants (look at the pile of them in the photo below), it can get pretty loud so don't expect any high-quality conversations in there. 

When you're done with dinner and stinking of pig's feet and soju, you should shamelessly walk out and head to this gem of a whiskey bar.

It's called Valinch (google/naver) and has excellent choice of single malt whiskeys and cocktails.

The place is pretty small, and run by the owner himself who actually is very helpful in picking out new whiskeys to try depending on your preferences! He certainly helped us pick ours, and we both loved the ones we got to try. The prices vary from 12 - 30+ per glass for the whiskey and 10 -15 for cocktails. Alternatively you can order a bottle and keep it behind the bar too.

He also serves a generous portion of chocolate and biscuits so if you still have any space left after dinner, you can have your whiskey-fuelled snacks here! 

My favourite whiskey of the night was Glendronach 12 years! I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for a bottle at airports!