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Hana Makgeolli, Rice Wine Yakju 14, NV

Sake from New York, United States
$33.99
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Historically, yakju — the clarified portion of a brew — was reserved for Korean nobility, and Hana Makgeolli is Brooklyn's first craft brewery dedicated to jeongtongju, traditionally brewed Korean rice wine. Hana Makgeolli works with just three things: organic rice from Polit Farms in California, filtered New York water, and nuruk, the wild Korean culture of fungi, yeast and lactic acid bacteria that does the fermenting (this is the nuruk tradition, not the koji one you know from Japanese sake — a useful distinction to taste side by side). Yakju 14 is an oyangju, meaning a five-stage fermentation run out over 70 days, taken all the way to dryness and landing at 14% ABV, with none of the sweeteners or processing aids that define most imported makgeolli. Alice Jun founded the brewery in 2017 out of an interest in sool that started at home, and launched commercially in 2020 with partner John Limb. If you've only ever met Korean rice wine as a cloudy, sweetened supermarket bottle, this is the one that rewrites the category for you — clean, bone dry and genuinely refined.

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More about Hana Makgeolli

Hana Makgeolli brews traditional Korean rice wine in Brooklyn, and it will upend whatever you think you know about makgeolli. Forget the sweet, fizzy cans; these are dry, naturally fermented sool made from just three ingredients: organic rice, water and nuruk, the traditional Korean starter of grain packed with wild yeasts, fungi and bacteria.

Alice Jun learned to brew from her father in the family's Los Angeles kitchen. She started Hana in 2017, opened the commercial brewery in Greenpoint in 2020 with partner John Limb, and it's billed as New York's first Korean rice wine brewery. The name nods both to Alice's Korean name and to the generations of women who brewed sool at home.

The range follows the traditional categories. Takju is the cloudy, sedimented style, led by the flagship Takju 16. Yakju is the clear wine that separates out during fermentation, and there are infused and heirloom-grain versions such as the omija-berry Makgeolli and black-rice Forbidden Takju. Savory, lactic and food-loving, they're as happy with pajeon or kimchi as with a dry-aged steak.

Wine Details

  • Grape Variety

    Rice

  • Vintage

    NV

  • Size

    750ml

  • Farming Practice

    Organic

  • Style

    Crisp

  • Sweetness

    Dry

  • Body

    Light Bodied

Flatiron's Take

From the Importer

What Skurnik Wines has to say about this wine:

Brewery: Hana Makgeolli

Region: New York

Ingredients: Water, Organic Rice (Polit Farms, CA), Nuruk (Wild Fungi, Yeast and Lactic Acid Bacteria)

Stage: Oyangju (5-stage)

Ferm Time: 70 Days

ABV: 14%

Light bodied, dry, with subtle notes of melon, citrus and grain

Pairs with Raw Oysters, Korean Hwe, Smoked Trout

Hana Makgeolli signature clarified brew and ideal introduction to nuruk vs. koji based rice wines.

Tasting Notes & Food Pairings

Perfect Pairings

Raw oysters on the half shell, Korean hwe (raw fish), citrus-and-beet cured salmon, smoked trout, crudo, steamed clams.

Tasting Profile

Clear and light-bodied, with subtle aromas of melon, citrus and grain. Fully dry, with bright natural lactic acidity and a clean, refined finish that turns toward barley and deep grain. No sweetness at all.