Big Rock brewery, Gangnam Seoul.

Wed June 2nd was an election day in Korea and most individuals had the day off in order to go place their votes. I had been in Seoul for almost a month and had tasted some of the local Korean beers. Most we’re too light for my taste (Hite, Hite Prime, Max, Cass, Cafri). The import tax on foreign beers and alcohol is still pretty high if what I was told is correct so it’s hard to find a good variety of beers at the local corner stores.

I had been craving some darker, richer beers and it was with that in mind that I decided to make my way to Big Rock bar and pub in Gangnam, Seoul.

Knowing that many Koreans would be out on Tuesday night I headed off in search of the Big Rock brewery.  It’s in Gangnam area but it wasn’t the easiest place to find; it’s located around some small alleys and streets with many small restaurants and shops which to a foreigner all look pretty similar.

I was lucky enough to grab someones free wireless internet connection on my smart phone.  With it I found a youtube video showing how to find the brewery.  The video itself wasn’t the greatest but in the end it helped me locate the bar.   When I got there the bar was closed and there were no opening hours displayed in English.  I tried but was unable to find the business hours on the internet.  It was approximately 4 pm so I decided to wander around the alleys a little longer exploring the Gangnam neighborhood.  I found one of the several Kinki robot designer collectible toy shops but despite my best efforts I couldn’t locate it’s entrance.  It was on the second floor of a large building complex and although I did my best I couldn’t find a stair case or elevator leading to it so I promised myself I would go back to it with my Korean friend.

After about an hour of walking I made my way back to the Big rock pub and at around 5:15 they opened up.  I was the first patron in the store and had read online that you could order a ‘sampler’ beer menu for around 8000 won (close to 8$ Canadian).  I sat down at the bar, ordered a sampler and began enjoying some ‘real’ beer (no offense to Korean beer meant!)

Here you’ve got a shot of the sampler of beers.  The price I had read on one of the blogs was a little outdated as the bartender informed me it was now 9000 won for the sampler.  Regardless 9000 won for a sampler of 6 beers was still pretty good in my books, particularly considering I had been craving some darker beers for several weeks at the time.  You can click on the below picture to get a close up of the samplers.

The bartender was friendly but his manager was a little uptight.  Perhaps she was having a bad day but I never once saw her smile and when she spoke to the bartender it always seemed like it was with a seriousness that was not required at all.  It simply brought a little tension to the bar, which in my opinion wasn’t necessary.  She is after all working in the service industry.  That being said hopefully I’ll get a chance to go back here and see if she was indeed just having a bad day.

While I was enjoying the samplers a few different Koreans came in for an interview.  I’m not certain which position they were interviewing for but once the manager had done the interviews and was behind the bar I pointed to the tables were she had held the interviews and said “Nadoo” in Korean which translates to “me too”.  She cracked a small smile and I considered this a small victory ;-)

The interviews being over I took the opportunity to snap a few shots from the inside of the bar.  Of particular note we’re the Wayne Gretzky jersey and the pitchers of beer with Ice in the middle (has to be the greatest beer invention ever!).  Over all the bar had a nice relaxing atmosphere and the restaurant section had a good selection of western food:

I didn’t try any of the food as I was waiting to hear from my Korean friend about our dinner plans.  (This turned out to be a mistake which you can read why below).  They had a small stage area as you can see in one of the above pictures and they also had a  free foosbal (imagine that!) machine for the use of their patrons.

I desperately wanted to play but as I was alone it wasn’t going to happen.  They also had a corner with some arcades which included a recent version of Golden tee (A golf game).  You can spot it in one of the pictures included in the set above.   As I worked my way through the samplers I settled in next to the golden tee game to whittle away the hours while I waited to hear from my Korean friend.

Here’s what I was doing to past the time ( I highly recommend clicking on the all the pictures one at a time from left to right, top to bottom to get the full effect!  You’ll also be able to see the name of the beers sampled):

If memory serves me well I worked my way through 4 or 5 of the samplers on an empty stomach before running into a group of English speakers.  I was feeling no pain at this point (that’s to say I was getting drunk) so when I passed their table on the way back from the washroom I said hello to them simply in order to say hello to someone in English.  They invited me to their table and proceeded to pour me a glass of beer from their pitcher.  They asked me if I was drinking alone and I explained that I was while waiting to hear from my friend.

A random drunken Korean bought us a a round of drinks to everyone at the table explaining that he simply wanted us to feel welcomed in his country and have a good time.  As you may have read on a few other post I’m not overly fond of the US military bases and soldiers to be found all over South Korea and meeting a group of friendly and polite US English teachers was a real breath of fresh air.

After finishing off the drinks my Korean friend arrived at which point I made certain to tell her that I was pretty much completely “drunk”.  I hadn’t eaten since lunch and the liquid supper had done it’s damage.  We wandered out of the bar and we’re invited by the Americans to join them at a Karaoke bar.

I was truly impressed by some of the Americans in the group as they had been in Seoul for less than a year yet their spoken Korean was above average for a westerner.  Although he struggled to express himself correctly one of the Americans had a fluent Korean conversation with my friend (impressive!).

We stayed at the karaoke bar until my Korean friend received an invitation from her coworkers to join them at a restaurant near their work.  With enthusiasm I told her I would love to meet her co workers as long as she explained that I had been drinking most of the day and was already fairly drunk.

After making sure she explained the above to her co workers we met them at a local Korean restaurant.  I’m not certain exactly what time it was but if I’d have to guess I would say it was probably around 11 pm at that time.  We sat down and went through the introductions after which I was quickly poured a drink of soju.

For those not familiar with Korean practices you should never pour your own drink.   When you finish your drink you should simply wait for someone to fill your cup or hand them the bottle with the unspoken understanding that they should fill your cup.  I actually like this little social aspect of their drinking.  Soju is served in a small shooter glass and you can either drink the whole thing down in “one shot” as they say or take small sips.  Being already drunk the sojus sweetness was welcomed and refreshing on a hot humid Seoul night.  Before I knew it we had worked out way through a few bottles when my Korean friend took my hand and motioned to her coworker saying that he had already had too much and that we should stop doing whole shots of soju.

We continued to talk around the table with some basic questions in English coming from her co workers and my good friend doing the translating for the rest.  On the table was a spicy dish which appeared to be chicken.  It was cold and had been there for a few hours in my opinion but the hunger got the best of me so I tried a couple of pieces.

I found the texture to be somewhat like meat and the cold vegetables (which I think was cabbage) to be crunchy yet somewhat soft having been sitting in a spicy sauce for a few hours.  After the first few mouthfuls I asked my friend exactly what it was that I was eating and she answered:  “guts”.  I have no idea what type of guts they were (I suspect pig) and with all the alcohol flowing through me I didn’t let it deter me.  Maybe it was the booze or maybe it was the hunger but I took several more mouthfuls.

It was approximately 2 or 3 am when we left the bar.  As it was still nice and warm I figured I’d walk home after having escorted my Korean friend back to her apartment.  It’s on the way to her apartment that the soju really started taking effect.

Not for a second am I pretending I wasn’t drunk by the end of the night.  I was extremely happy having had some good Canadian beer, met my Korean friends co workers and having enjoyed a good night out on the town.  In short I was feeling no pain.  However as time went by it was harder and harder for me to ‘keep it together’.   It’s very rare that I get drunk to the point that I’m not able to control myself (for example despite being very drunk I’m usually still able to walk a straight line and I rarely ‘black out’).

However it wasn’t more than an hour after having started walking that I threw up! I don’t deny that the fact that I hadn’t eaten since lunch plus the large amounts of liquor I had ingested to be part of the problem.  However for the record: I put the blame squarely on the cold guts.  Sure in hindsight one could say “why would you want to eat warm guts, let alone cold guts” but that’s easy to say until you’ve gone almost twelve hours without eating and having drank enough to put an small elephant down…

And here’s a tip for any of you thinking about drinking copious amounts of soju.  Make sure you take shot or two of water for each shot of soju.  Your head will thank you the following day.  Now seeing as this post started with the subject of Big Rock I’ll finish with a few words concerning this pub.

If you’re craving some good darker beers and ales this is the place for you.  They’re a little bit on the pricey side but that’s to be expected seeing as they’re being imported all the way from Canada.  It’s also a great spot to run into foreigners who speak English if you’re feeling a little home sick.  Finally the pub itself is has a nice relaxed atmosphere and a decent western menu, just cross your fingers that the manager is in a good mood ;-)   I leave you with a picture of the big rock entrance:

Updated July 15th 2010: If you’re looking for directions on how to locate the Big Rock brewery you can find them here.