Taedonggang Brewery | North Korea Travel Guide
Taedonggang Brewery
Introduction
Location
What's it like to visit?
Practical Tips
Anecdotes
Introduction
The Taedonggang Brewery was established in 2001.
It is North Korea’s largest and best-known beer brewery.
Not to be confused with the Taedonggang #3 Beer Bar near the Juche Tower which is sometimes referred to as the Taedonggang Micro Brewery.
The Taedonggang Brewery the factory where they brew and bottle Taedonggang Beer for the masses, whereas the microbrewery is just an overpriced hang out of the upper classes.
Taedonggang Beer is North Korea's most popular beer. But certainly not the only North Korean beer!
Location
Taedonggang Brewery is located on the outskirts of East Pyongyang on Saesalim Street.
If your tour features a visit to Jangchon Co-operative farm, then you will likely drive past the Taedonggang Beer Brewery on the way.
See if you can spot it!
What's it like to visit?
Visits to the Taedonggang Brewery are possible, but at present only for specialist tours such as Koryo Tours’ Brewery Industry Tour.
Tours of the factory generally take around 30-40 minutes with brewing, quality control, keg lines and bottling lines all being visited.
The Taedonggang Brewery is very well set up to host visitors with glass separating you from the factory and lifts available if stairs are a challenge for you.
Guides and staff are friendly and happy to answer all of your questions about Taedonggang Beer.
The tour finishes in a product exhibition room overlooking the bottling line, but despite all the beer on display, comfy chairs and bar in the corner no drinking is allowed here.
Never fear though!
Across the road is the Taedonggang Brewery factory’s own bar & restaurant where you can go to drink factory fresh, icy cold Taedonggang beer.
There is a cost to visit which needs to be paid through Koryo Tours.
Generally, this will be included in your tour fee already.
Beer sampled at the bar across the road needs to be paid for on the spot.
Unfortunately, there are no souvenirs that can be purchased here.
Practical Tips
- Photography is allowed here throughout the tour. Just don’t photograph the security guards.
- Feel free to bring a bottle or can of your favourite beer from home to give to the factory. It may end up in their fridge of world beers for future visitors to admire.
- Despite the factory’s beer bar having eight beer taps, not all beers are always available or fresh. Generally, if you have done a tour at the factory they will put on a factory-fresh keg of Taedonggang #2 Beer here for you.
- As the factory’s beer bar is separate from the factory, you can visit it anytime for a drink - just be aware that it is quite far from the city centre compared to the other beer bars you can also visit.
Anecdotes
- The brewery was originally the Ushers of Trowbridge brewery in Wiltshire, UK. It was bought by the Koreans in 2000 and then packed up into shipping containers for relocation to Pyongyang.
- The common misconception is that North Korea only has one beer - Taedonggang beer. In fact, there are actually many brands of North Korean beer. Taedonggang is one of the youngest beer brands on the market. Take a look at Ponghak and Pyongyang Beer!
- Taedonggang Beer is also produced for the international market here which is put into different bottles (also on display at the factory). You will likely struggle to find it in your local bottle shop or convenience store, but you can usually find it at Korean supermarkets in China.
- Koryo Tours working with Mikkeller were instrumental in Taedonggang Beer representing themselves at the 2019 Mikkeller Beer Celebration in Copenhagen.
- According to North Korean folklore, the women of Trowbridge where Ushers Brewery was located forced the brewery to close down in protest as the men were apparently always drunk from drinking beer all day.
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