萨默梅尔·克林·金湄信让你爱上了Soju

In the early 2000s, Kyungmoon Kim found himself teaching wine-appreciation courses on South Korean warships. Kim had moved to the States from Korea as a teen and attended the Culinary Institute of America. There, students with prior restaurant experience outpaced him in the kitchen, but he excelled in the wine class. Encouraged, he went on to complete three levels of the Wine & Spirit Education Trust certification and pass the Court of Master Sommeliers' introductory and certified exams. And then he was required to serve in the South Korean navy.

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“我被困在一个基地两年，但我决心继续学习，”他说。他的课程中没有葡萄酒都没vwin德赢ac米兰有在基地上获得，所以他在没有品尝的情况下学习。他设法在首尔赢得了侍酒师比赛，并开始分享他的知识，在舰队上提供研讨会。一直致力于，他正在建造在首尔的CIA Cormandmate Jungvwin德赢ac米兰sik Yim的第一家餐厅的葡萄酒名单，并在收到他的卸货后，Kim开始在那里工作。当yim在2011年在纽约市开设了Jungsik时，Kim也建造了该列表。

Kim was enthusiastic about pairing wine with Korean cuisine. "We had close to a thousand labels," he says. But what he didn't anticipate was New Yorkers' interest in Korean drinks. In other Koreatown bars, the drink of choice was "green bottle" soju, a mass-produced spirit made with starches and additives. "I couldn't find anything I was proud to offer," he says. "But it stayed in the back of my mind."

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In 2016, then working at The Modern, Kim passed the Court's Master Sommelier test, wine's most elite exam. "I thought, 'Now the world is going to open up for me,'" he remembers.

它没有。他花了一年的缺点ulting for Dragonback Estate, a membership winery, in Argentina. He considered opening his own restaurant. "Then the light bulb came on," he says. Many of the restaurateurs he knew shared a need for an artisanal Korean beverage. So Kim hopped on a plane to Korea to discover what small rice distilleries were producing.

韩国人一直酿造旗里米酒 - 自13世纪以来，将其蒸馏出来，将其蒸馏出来。vwin德赢ac米兰但在20世纪，日本占领和朝鲜战争离开了国家贫困，而且必须用于食物的稻米。vwin德赢ac米兰酿造和蒸馏水稻被禁止。较小的操作快门;更大的人转向其他谷物，木薯或甜土豆，为他们的饮料的基础。这是近半个世纪的。

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But when Kim returned to Korea, he learned that a renaissance in soju was underway. The government had lifted the ban on rice distilling in the 1990s, eventually even bestowing upon some producers the title of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Artisanal soju was back. "When I tasted it, I was blown away," Kim says. "It opened my eyes."

Unlike the industrial stuff he'd seen in New York, the craft soju Kim tried was made in small batches in pot stills, using a natural yeast starter called nuruk. Whether bottled at 20% or 40% alcohol, they offered lush textures and notes of herbs, fruits, and cherry blossoms. But few had tasted them, even within Korea. The big, cheap bottles still dominated the market.

Kim decided to help small-scale producers find a market in the United States by acting as their importer. Today, Kim brings in soju that makes an elegant substitute for vodka or gin and pairs beautifully with food. Slowly, they're gaining a following.

"Soju is the most fascinating topic that few people know anything about," Kim says. He is optimistic about its future. "A lot of people hadn't yet learned about mezcal 15 years ago. Now, every restaurant has some from a little village. We're still taking baby steps with soju. But we can definitely get something going."

找到这些目的woorisoul.com.

Yangchon Chungju
($30)
这款金黄米酒酿造麦克风，是朴实的，粘稠的，蘑菇，小杏仁饼和干梨味，加上苦瓜螺母染色。vwin德赢ac米兰享受韩国烧烤。

Solsongju Damsoul Pine Soju
($26)
与云杉和松树融入韩国，并用云杉茶稀释，这种草本的Soju是杜松子酒的繁荣。Kim喜欢用Campari和Yangchon Chungju搅拌它，为韩国旋转在Negroni上。

Sulseam Mir Soju
($30)
采用京畿道的水，Nuruk和米饭制成，这种双蒸馏精神有烤玉米香气和乳酸甜味，具有菠萝和啤酒花的明亮笔记。它在岩石上很棒。