Potable Wednesday: Baekseju / 백세주

Kate: On one of our first nights going out to eat in Seoul, we ate at a bimbimbap joint and ordered a random drink off the menu. That drink turned out to be baekseju which is the focus of this week’s Potable Wednesday.

David: Baekseju means “100-years wine” which, to clear up the syntactic ambiguity, means that if a person drinks baekseju, they will live for 100 years.

Kate: Baekseju is made by fermenting rice (as opposed to soju which is distilled) and is brewed with a bunch of different herbs and flavors — some more familiar than others.

David: I, my dear, will attempt to ennumerate the common ones: Ginseng, ginger, cinnamon, anise…

Kate: Don’t forget Chinese Wolfberry!

David: Sounds tasty?

Kate: We found out recently that baekseju is considered kind of an old-fashioned old person’s drink, comparable to, say, sherry in the states. Some traditional Korean drinks are enjoying a hipster revival, but baekseju has not made that list. That said, I quite enjoy it. The drink itself is a beautiful yellow-gold color and the herbs are not overly strong or pungent — I’d say it would fit in better with chai than with gin, if you are looking for a flavor profile.

David: I liked it too — it has a light, semi-fruity/floral/herby flavor and apparently (read: according to Wikipedia) it’s very good for helping mitigate spicy foods. That gives it major points in my book and makes me excited to have it next time we eat out at the spicy snail place.

Kate: So there you have it, today’s lesson is that if you drink baekseju you’ll live for a hundred years and be able to spend most of them eating spicy snails!

Grade: Kate = A-, David = A-