Many people in the world who are fond of drinking and who say they are specialists in alcoholic beverage often ask this question one another.
Liquor with Flavour Unique to the Korean Nation
Particularly attractive is the name Koryo Liquor, one of the famous liquors in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Koryo (the first unified state of the Korean nation which existed from 918 to 1392) is well known together with Koryo porcelain, a rare treasure in the world, and Koryo insam, world-famous as an “elixir of life.” The name of the country Korea now known to the world is derived from Koryo.
Indigenous to Korea, the liquor reflects the emotions, aptitudes and flavour of the clean-hearted, honest and unyielding Korean nation.
30 and 40 per cent strong, they stimulate the sense of taste and make the mouth water. According to those who have ever drunk the liquor, it tastes mellow, refined and flavory. And there is no hangover and other unpleasant sideeffects after drinking. The mild, deep and mysterious fragrance of Koryo insam pervading the whole body, increasing vigour and metabolism and relieving fatigue–these characteristics of the liquor attract more and more people.
The peculiar distilling method also attracts the interest of experts and distillers.
The main ingredients are Kaesong Koryo insam (Giseng from Kaesong area) and scorched glutinous rice. Glutinous rice is first boiled in the wok and then left to be scorched to a slight degree when the wok begins to steam. The scorched rice digests well and is highly nutritious. Ancestors of the Korean nation used scorched rice in medical treatment, and the scorched-rice tea was their traditional drink.
Developers of Koryo Liquor preserved the taste and fragrance of insam by weakening its bitter taste, characteristic of conventional insam liquor, with the savoury taste and aroma of the scorched glutinous rice by means of the traditional recipe for distilling and cutting-edge technology, and thus succeeded in making Koryo Liqour of national flavour.
Functional Liquor
The greatest attraction of Koryo Liquor is that it is a health-friendly functional liquor.
Its major raw materials are tonics. Kaesong Koryo insam has medicinal properties good for human health in reasonable proportions. The medical circles see Koryo insam as an ideal pharmaceutical material and natural health food. Koryo Liquor is made of six-year-old Kaesong Koryo insam, known as being highest in medicinal effect. Glutinous rice is also highly nutritious. From olden times crystal-clear liquor made from glutinous rice has been noted for its medicinal value and high quality.
Koryo Liquor is distilled at the Taedonggang Foodstuff Factory which is situated in a suburbia of Pyongyang, the capital city of the DPRK. Equipped with modern facilities and production system, the factory has raised it as the core of its business strategy to ensure product safety and scientific guarantee by means of a scientific quality management system.
Koryo Liquor is accredited by ISO 22 000, a food safety management system, and passed the physicochemical and five-sense analyses with good results. Experts appraise it as one of the most ideal kinds of functional liquor.
Increasing Popularity
Koryo Liquor is gaining popularity in the DPRK. Anyone chooses Koryo Liquor as a particular kind of alcoholic drinks pleasing to the eye, pleasant to the taste and good for health. This liquor, which may cost several hundred dollars in the West, is enjoyed in the DPRK by ordinary working people.
The popularity of and demand for the liquor are not limited to the DPRK. As it is free from hangover like that from cocktails and other strong alcoholic drinks that are in vogue in the West, it is popular with foreigners irrespective of place of residence and physical constitution. Particularly, it enjoys great popularity as a medicinal liquor. According to a journalist of the Pyongyang bureau of Joson Sinbo, a Japan-based newspaper, Koryo Liquor can compete with world-famous vodka in terms of five senses including taste and aroma. A wine lover in France said that he had never tasted such liquor, and that he would turn himself from a cognac lover into a Koryo liquor lover, adding that its taste would remain in his memory all his life. Officials of an accreditation exchange group in China said that one cannot admire its real taste before having a taste of it, and that they would like to drink one bottle after another. The unique and mysterious aroma of Koryo Liquor is attracting the people of the world who are fond of drinking.
