Andong soju

Andong soju (hangul: 안동소주; hanja: 安東燒酎) is a kind of distilled soju produced in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea.

Artisan Park Jae-seo's Andong soju

Artisan Park Jae-seo's Andong soju2

Artisan Joe Ok-wha's Andong soju

Brewage

The process of making the nuruk (fermentation starter) of Andong soju consists of washing and drying wheat, crushing it, and mixing it with water by hand. Then a bojagi (a cloth made of ramie) is spread out, and a circular frame is placed on top of the bojagi. The mixed nuruk is poured into the bojagi. A second bojagi is placed on top of this and both are turned over by foot (flattening the mix). The nuruk is removed from its frame and fermented for 20 days, then crushed and dried for a day (the smell of the gokja is removed by letting it accumulate dew over one night). The nuruk is mixed by hand with hard-boiled rice and placed in a liquor jug with water for about 15 days, by which time its color is yellowish, and it has a savory taste.

The aged liquor is boiled in a sot (hangul: 솥; a traditional Korean pot). A sojugeori (hangul: 소주걸이; a traditional Korean tool used for filtering liquor) and a cooling device are placed on the sot, and sirutbun (hangul: 시룻번; dough used to make an air-tight seal) is spread on the gap between the sojugeori and cooling device so that no steam escapes. When the aged liquor is heated, it then vaporizes, and the vaporized steam is cooled by the cold water in the cooling device. The Adong soju flows out via the pipe in the sojugeori.^[1]

Origin

It is presumed that the development of soju in Andong is related to the Yuan Dynasty's influx into the Korean Peninsula in the 13th century, because the Yuan Dynasty's supply base that was aiming for an expedition to Japan was in Andong.

Andong soju's origin dates to the Silla period. The distillation skill developed by alchemists in Arab regions, people of the Silla were engaging in entrepot trade actively with Arab nations at that time. Warrior statues with exotic features and Persian glass found at Goereung (hangul: 괘릉; an ancient tomb of Silla in Gyeongju, Gyeongsangbuk-do) is regarded as proof of this relation between Silla and Arab regions. From that time, the brewing of hard liquor was passed down with Persian glass. Also, China had been drinking hard liquor from the period of the Tang Dynasty. Through the close relationship between Silla and the Tang Dynasty, it can be presumed that strong liquor was drunken in Korea since the Silla period.^[2]

Artisan

The artisans of Andong soju are Joe Ok-wha(hangul: 조옥화; hanja: 趙玉花) and Park Jae-seo(hangul: 박재서). These artisans keep alive the traditional ways of making Andong soju alive through the Korean government's support for discovering traditional liquors since the 1986 Asian Games and 1988 Summer Olympics.

After the Silla period, the skills of making Andong soju were passed down in Andong. Joe Ok-wha makes and preserves this Andong soju, so she was designated as "Gyeongsangbuk-do intangible cultural property No.12" on May 13, 1987, and she was also designated as "Korean food grand master No.20" on September 18, 2000. Now her daughter-in-law Bae Kyong-hwa (hangul: 배경화) and son Kim Yeon-park (hangul: 김연박) continue the tradition.^[1]

Park Jae-seo is Ban Nam-park (hangul: 반남박)'s descendant in the 25th generation of carrying on the legacy of Andong soju that has been passed down in his family for 500 years. For preserving this tradition, Park Jae-seo was designated as "Korean food grand master No.6" in July, 1995.^[3]

Andong soju is the only specialty to have two Korean food grand masters, because Joe Ok-wha and Park Jae-seo's way of making it and materials are different from each other.

References