Thank you Jennifer Rosini-Gentile for the coverage! Here’s an excerpt from the article:
“Alice Jun has been a fan of Chef Kim since the opening of her restaurant in 2016. Jun told Greenpointers that “projects like Miss Kim in Ann Arbor stood as an inspiring example of how Korean gastronomy is taking hold across all parts of the U.S.,” when Jun was just starting out.”
Read the full article here!
Thank you Adam Reiner for the coverage! Hana Makgeolli is featured in “The World’s 50 Best Bars Are Finding Success with Soju” on Bloomberg.com.
Here’s an excerpt from the article:
“An additional label winning attention in the US is a collaboration between Brooklyn’s Hana Makgeolli, which makes premium-quality fermented rice wine, and Matchbook Distilling Co. in Greenport, New York. Hana Soju 60 ($60 for 375 ml) is made with nuruk and distilled at 60% ABV—more than triple that of most green-bottle sojus—bringing out the spirit’s bright, floral character. Released in December, it’s served at top Korean restaurants, including New York’s Atomix and Baroo in Los Angeles. Alice Jun, Hana Makgeolli’s co-founder, says she plans to expand brewing capacity in the spring and to begin exporting by yearend.”
Hana Makgeolli’s Head Bartender Molly McClintock’s Takju Negroi was featured in Forbes list, “8 Of The Best Lunar New Year Cocktails To Usher In The Year Of The Dragon”. Thank you Karla Alindahao for the coverage!
“‘The Takju Negroni is just a super simple riff on the classic. I think it’s a great example of how powerful and versatile Makgeolli is in cocktails. Essentially, the addition of Takju 16 helps round the harsher elements of the gin and Campari, it gives the drink a silky mouthfeel, and it also imbues the drink with these wonderful tropical notes like pineapple and melon that go so wonderfully with this highly customizable classic. Here's a palate opener before you dive into a big Lunar New Year feast!’ —Molly McClintock, head bartender at the Hana Makgeolli Tasting Room (Greenpoint, New York)”
Abena Anim-Somuah interviewed Hana Makgeolli Founder Alice Jun on the Cherry Bombe podcast “The Future of Food is You”. Thank you Abena!
“Today’s guest is Alice Jun, founder of Hana Makgeolli, the artisanal Korean rice wine producer based in Brooklyn. She was introduced to makgeolli at a young age, helping her father brew batches at home throughout her childhood. During her time at NYU, Alice began brewing rice wine on her own, a hobby that turned into a series of pop-up dinners, tastings, and parties. After graduation, Alice began working as a consultant at Deloitte, but continued to devote her weekends to her brewing practice. In 2017, she made her passion her full-time profession and launched Hana Makgeolli with aspirations of becoming the foremost artisanal makgeolli brand in the United States. Alice shares how she went from making makgeolli in her dorm to building a production facility and tasting room in Brooklyn and connecting with her Korean American roots. Don’t miss her chat with host Abena Anim-Somuah or her voicemail to her future self!”
Hana Makgeolli’s development over the past few years was written about in Resy. Thanks to Caroline Shin for the coverage!
Read an expert here:
“In the back room of Hana Makgeolli in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, it’s mostly silent, with rice wine quietly fermenting in large steel vats. But in the front, where you’ll find a closet-sized kitchen and an airy tasting room, it’s often bustling.
Diners from across the city meet at the tasting room for sips of Hana Makgeolli’s sool, or Korean alcohol, and bites of their anju, Korean-inspired drinking foods like pajeon or kimchi arancini. Nearly every other week, the space is occupied by a visiting chef churning out some of the most exciting cultural crossovers that are not just paired with, but often cooked with Hana Makgeolli’s freshly brewed and bottled Korean rice wines.”
Hana Makgeolli was featured in Parade’s “33 Gifts From AAPI-Owned Food & Beverage Brands”! Thanks to Justine Lee for the coverage!
“Whether they're regular drinker of makgeolli or new to drinking it, Hana Makgeolli's selection of traditionally fermented Korean rice wines is guarantee to please. Yakju is Hana Makgeolli's 5th stage fermented alcohol variety, and it's sweet, light, pretty dry with deep tasting notes of barley and grain.”
https://parade.com/food/best-asian-american-food-drink-gifts#alcohol
Emma Buls interviewed Hana Makgeolli owner Alice Jun, for this piece in “The Vinter Project”. Read on to learn more about Jun’s inspiration, description of the sool category, and Hana Makgeolli’s mission.
Hana Makgeolli was featured in Thrillist’s “The Ultimate Shopping Guide to NYC”! Thanks to Izzy Baskette for the coverage!
“Business partners Alice Jun and John Limb see their Korean rice wine company as a labor of love. Motivated by a dream to expand people’s knowledge of sool (Korean alcoholic beverages) and the sense of community that surrounds it, Jun and Limb transformed their makgeolli (unfiltered Korean rice wine) business from a startup out of Jun’s apartment to a store and tasting room in Greenpoint. Snag a bottle of the signature Takju 16, which sits at 16% ABV and has notes of melon plus green apple.”
https://www.thrillist.com/shopping/new-york/where-to-shop-in-nyc
Hana Makgeolli is featured in Print Mag article introducing: “Made Here” a cookbook featuring 43 restaurants and 18+ cuisines from 24 NYC Neighborhoods.
“Made Here is more than a cookbook, and it's about more than just making food — it's about making a home, making a life, and making it in New York City.
Go from Williamsburg to Washington Heights and peek into the kitchens of NYC’s Asian-owned restaurants, from storied institutions like Cho Dang Gol and Punjabi Deli to innovative newcomers such as Pecking House and Falansai.”
Hana Makgeolli Founder Alice Jun was featured in Wine Enthusiast’s Future 40 Tastemakers 2023! Read more about Alice & the other Tastemakers here.
“If there is one theme that unites this year’s Future 40 honorees across their many categories, it is advocacy—in every sense of the word. Advocacy for including people of all backgrounds in an industry that is struggling to find its footing in appealing beyond a traditional base as well as advocacy for the environment, advocacy for each other and advocacy for workers in the hospitality industry on which they all, in one way or another, depend. Most of all though, advocacy for a better future.”
Hana Makgeolli was featured in a Resy post about the New York City pop-up scene. Thank you to Mahira Rivers for the coverage!
Here’s a snippet of the article: “A few weeks ago, the loftlike tasting room at Hana Makgeolli in Greenpoint, Brooklyn transformed from a Korean sool brewery into a pop-up dinner party full of Sichuanese specialties like mapo tofu and beef tripe in chili oil. The event was a one-night-only collaboration between the brewery and Charlene Luo, who runs a dinner party series called The Baodega. Luo, who works full-time as a data scientist, runs her pop-up as a side project. But her homestyle Chinese cooking has an avid following, which was enough to grab the attention of the team at Hana.”
