Beer Laws and regulations in South Korea

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BarleyAndApple

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I was watching the Beer Wars the other day and I learnt about the macros do all sorts of things to smaller breweries.

Well.. such things don't happen in South Korea because such are impossible to happen. How so? well, to begin with, it's practically illegal for microbreweries to exist in South Korea.

Brewpubs are different story thankfully though.

For a brewery to start, the law requires the company to have 25 Million dollars in capital.

The import tax on foreign beers are 260%

There are only TWO companies that make off-the-shelf beer.

To be labeled as 'beer' it only requires 10% malt.

Thankfully though, there are decent brewpubs in South Korea,
but then again, they suffer from bureaucracies.


This is probably why I got into Homebrew since I left England.

God I miss the fine ales.
 
but then again, they suffer from bureaucracies.

As do we in the US. Wherever there are governments hard up for cash, and religious nut jobs who have the influence to push thier crazy anti-alcohol agenda on others, there will be unreasonable alcohol laws and taxes.

Here in Minnesota, liquor stores cannot sell on Sunday, instead of drinking safely at home, you have to go to a bar, drink there, and drive home drunk.

Speaking of England, I heard there was a proposal recently to outlaw glass in pubs! Too many people using them as weapons lol!
 
As do we in the US. Wherever there are governments hard up for cash, and religious nut jobs who have the influence to push thier crazy anti-alcohol agenda on others, there will be unreasonable alcohol laws and taxes.

True

Here in Minnesota, liquor stores cannot sell on Sunday, instead of drinking safely at home, you have to go to a bar, drink there, and drive home drunk.

You could always buy your beer on Saturday. :D FWIW I don't agree with the Sunday laws either, but it's not really a hindrance to anyone.

Speaking of England, I heard there was a proposal recently to outlaw glass in pubs! Too many people using them as weapons lol!

Some funny stuff happens over there.

Good, plentiful beer. Even if you don't like our government, our flag, or whatever, you got to admit beer still makes the USA great.
 
True



You could always buy your beer on Saturday. :D FWIW I don't agree with the Sunday laws either, but it's not really a hindrance to anyone.


It's a royal pain in the arse. In addition, in most locales, liquor stores close at 8pm on weeknights. What kind of crap is that?

When I moved to California, I made it a point to buy booze (at the supermarket, no less) every Sunday for the first month or two.
 
I can see the suck factor in it. Especially the early closings. Didn't think about that aspect of it.

All of our hard liquor is at state beverage stores (or military package stores for me). I'm not sure when the state stores operate, but the military ones keep good hours.

Beer, I can buy at the supermarket all the time. I'm thankful for that.
 
Early closing and not selling on Sun is a PITA. I went to a wedding in NJ and they had similar restrictions. After we got there we were going to get our party on and wait for the cabs to get there and I went to get the booze and hour and a half later I finally got back after trying two supermarkets and learning that they can't sell from supermarket. Between that and the limited access road goofyness I had to buy an extra 6 pack to soothe my nerves.
 
In Croatia, people drink beer openly in public parks. Don't know the laws, but there's one good brewery in Croatia, the others are all crap pretty much.

The church here managed to get ALL retail completely closed on Sunday for a few months this year until the supreme court declared it unconstitutional. For a while, Sunday was pretty much shut down.
 
I wonder how many homebrewers abroad are expats? I started after moving to Ireland, where its surprisingly difficult and expensive to get good beer. It turned out after moving here that the Irish have a huge love of drinking beer, but not a whole lot of interest in the beer itself. There are a couple of craft brewers, but Guiness put them mostly out of business in the last 40 years or so. Imports are incredibly pricey (€4 per bottle of Sierra Nevada in the shop, €6 in the one bar that sells it).

Ireland has some pain in the ass drinking laws. Stores can't sell alcohol after 10pm, and not before noon on Sundays. Pubs close at 11pm, and bars/clubs close at 1am on weeknights and 2:30am on weekends but only if they have a special license. I'd say the early closing leads to a lot of conflicts, since every drunk and aggressive person gets tossed out onto the street at the same time.

Generally, drinking on the street is illegal, but the worst that will happen is the police will just pour out your drink. There aren't any restrictions on what stores sell what types of liquor, but its awfully expensive with even a sixer of the cheapest beer being €7.
 
I wonder how many homebrewers abroad are expats? I started after moving to Ireland, where its surprisingly difficult and expensive to get good beer.

I've found that too on my trips to Ireland. Granted, I like Guinness as much as the next guy, but when your choices for beer are always Bud or something similar, Guinness and clones, Cider, and the occasional Smithwicks, it gets really tiresome.
 
I've found that too on my trips to Ireland. Granted, I like Guinness as much as the next guy, but when your choices for beer are always Bud or something similar, Guinness and clones, Cider, and the occasional Smithwicks, it gets really tiresome.

If you're ever back in Dublin, you should make sure you know where The Porterhouse, The Bull & Castle, and Anseo are, they're the only places where you can get a break from Diageo's stranglehold on alcohol.
 
If you're ever back in Dublin, you should make sure you know where The Porterhouse, The Bull & Castle, and Anseo are, they're the only places where you can get a break from Diageo's stranglehold on alcohol.

Been to Porterhouse and The Bull and Castle. Loved Porterhouse. Bull and Castle had a decent selection but I didn't like the space much myself. WAY way too loud and packed for me. Porterhouse got loud too, (Temple Bar one) but there were multiple floors and nooks and crannies where a group of friends could actually hear each other talk.

And yeah, I'm an expat if you can't tell by my non Croat name. From Ojai, near Santa Barbara...
 
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