North Korea’s strange brew (Pyongyang)

One day Kim Jong Il decided to buy a brewery. Sam Chambers heads to Pyongyang in search of what was once a famous old name in British brewing

At 30,000 ft the first taste is not promising. In fact, it is so bad that the Canadian sitting next door to me winces on slugging back the first North Korean beer of his life and grimaces, “That’s bad, that’s awful.” But then this is Pyongyang Beer, not what I am after, with its nasty chemical taste.

I am surprised that the air hostesses serve such western delights as 7 Up and Lurpak butter on board Air Koryo flight JS223 heading from Beijing to Pyongyang, the capital of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

I am off to the world’s most secretive state in search of a strange amber nectar-brewing tale that could only emanate from this strangest of nations.

Back in 2000, the Dear Leader, known to be fond of a tipple or 10 (he is allegedly Hennessey Brandy’s single biggest customer) decided the proletariat deserved a better brew.

Having been long-term importers of China’s Five Star beer, Kim Jong Il wanted his Stalinist state to have its own standout beer.

He cast around for a brewery and in November, 2000, using a German agent, answered an advert and spent a reported £1.5 million purchasing the venerable Ushers brewery.

The 175-year-old brewery located in Trowbridge, Wiltshire in the west of England was dismantled and moved lock, stock and barrel 8,500 km to the eastern suburbs of Pyongyang.

Strange but true – but then in 1976 in similar fashion Kim’s father Kim il Sung (still president despite being dead for 12 years) bought and imported a Swiss watch factory!

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By Sam Chambers

Section : International Brewery

Page number : 58