Rainbrew revives a Korean tradition outside of Seattle
The steady drip drop patter of rain is white noise in the concrete wine country of Woodinville, Washington. On the other hand, the drizzling sound that comes from a gently roiling tank of Korea’s oldest alcohol, makgeolli, is frenetic and ebullient.
Makgeolli is a traditional farm-house rice wine made from three ingredients, water, rice and nuruk, a microbially rich starter. It is rustic, delightful, highly quaffable and not something typically expected in Woodinville Wine Country. Anywhere outside of Korea, actually. However, within a former brewery space beside the concrete tines of Washington State Route 522, the Jung family is brewing a revival at Rainbrew.
“They say 10,000 recipes for makgeolli were lost,” says Jooyun Jung as she pours a flight of sool, an umbrella term for Korean alcohols.
During the 20th century traditional makgeolli culture suffered blow after blow. The Japanese government banned home brewing of makgeolli during the dark period of imperial occupation which ended in 1945. The Korean government banned production again in 1965 due to rice shortages. By the time the ban was lifted in 1995, many traditional brewing techniques had faded into history.
“After about 100 years everyone had lost their family recipes,” says Jooyun, “Our recipes are about 400 years old, and they were only again found by young people combing through journals about 15 or 20 years ago.”
Traditionally, recipes are passed down from mother to daughter or daughter-in-law. In the case of the Jungs, the headbrewer at Rainbrew is Jooyun’s son, Peter. When COVID-19 began, Peter was living in Los Angeles and looking to transition from the film industry towards something new. He and his sister, Sophia, considered what it would take to start a brewery or a winery.
“It’s a very hard time for small alcohol businesses, breweries especially,” says Sophia, “Not only are there a lot in the area, but COVID hit them pretty hard.”
After a visit to a craft brewers conference, Peter knew that he needed to come up with a concept that had heart — nothing corporate — maybe even something healthy. At the same time, Jooyun, who was living in Korea, was lamenting the lack of real makgeolli in the United States.
“Makgeolli checked all of the boxes,” says Peter. “The only thing was we’d never made it before.”
Committed to the cause, the Jung siblings moved home to Bellevue, Washington, where their family has lived for three generations. Over the summer of 2021, Peter underwent a three month tour of study in Korea. While there, Peter had the opportunity to meet small producers and brew his own batches of makgeolli with traditional methods.
“It was important to us not to add any preservatives, artificial flavoring or added sweeteners which are commonly found in the store bought versions. We wanted to bring the traditionally brewed version to people,” says Peter.
By 2023, the Jung family opened Rainbrew in Woodinville. The product range is entirely unpasteurized and made from the three base ingredients of rice, water and nuruk. However, change the proportion or provenance of the ingredients and the resulting beverage will vary tremendously. Their flagship Takju is rice-y, slightly sweet, sour and pleasantly astringent. When made with a nuruk from 200 miles away, as is the case with their Jinju, the flavor profile moves into mushrooms, umami and hay.
“There is a strong terroir aspect to traditional Korean alcohol because it’s inoculated by the air. Depending on where the nuruk is made, you get a different product,” says Sophia. The nuruk inoculates each batch with a unique mixture of yeasts, bacteria and enzymes. It is made by leaving ground up and soaked grains such as wheat or millet in an environment favourable to catching ambient microorganisms. What floats around in the air in the Korean region of Jinju varies drastically from that of, for example, the city of Busan.
Perhaps more familiar to the western audience is their “Cloud 9” fresh makgeolli. The effervescent and joyful yogurty punch is friendly and slightly closer in profile to the plastic bottle version available at H Mart. The Rainbrew Cloud 9, though, is much less sweet and has the natural complexity of fermentation.
“Most people these days didn’t grow up drinking traditionally made makgeolli,” says Peter. “Because of that a lot of people in Korea actually seem to prefer the industrially produced version to traditionally brewed makgeolli.”
Competing with existing preferences for makgeolli hasn’t been a challenge for their U.S. audience, largely because many people don’t know what makgeolli is in the first place.
“There’s so much energy and money behind sake,” says Peter, “but we are at square one with sool and makgeolli in the States.”
Despite the challenge of creating a market from the ground up, they’ve found support around Seattle.
Rachel Yang, of Seattle Korean fusion restaurants Joule and Revel, features Rainbrew prominently on her drinks menu.
“They’re great because they have these big bold flavors and texture, which is something that you don’t get in the store-bought makgeolli,” says Yang. At Joule, Yang loves to pair a dish of smoked tofu, honshimeji mushroom and soy truffle vinaigrette with Rainbrew’s Yakju. Yakju, historically reserved for royalty, is the precious portion of clear liquid that sits on top of the heavier sediment of the ferment. It has a slightly higher alcohol content, 14-16%, with a dry register that highlights the umami of nuruk-based fermentation.
“It has really great herbal notes and a complex flavor that works really well with the smokiness of the tofu,” says Yang.
“They’re also pretty versatile beyond pairing with Korean cuisine,” says Chris Tanghe, Master Sommelier and owner of Walter’s Wine Shop in West Seattle. Walter’s is one of several bottle shops around the Seattle area that stocks Rainbrew. Tanghe finds Takju in particular does well with umami and spice, similar to off-dry riesling. “It has a little bit more body and residual sugar. I use those pairing principles when I’m thinking about makgeolli.”
The concept of pairing with makgeolli is essential to the culture around sool. It is afterall, a beverage made for food.
“The Takju is perfect for our kimchi sampler at Joule,” says Yang, “it is typical for older Korean people to have a bowl of kimchi and drink makgeolli with it all night. With something intensely flavored, like kimchi, you want to follow it with something sweet, fermenty and heavily textured like makgeolli.”
In Korea there is a tradition of drinking makgeolli when it rains. The common pairing to rainy days and makgeolli is the ubiquitous panjeon, a savory pancake. At Rainbrew, perhaps in deference to Seattle’s rainy climate, the tasting room is outfitted with just enough cooking equipment to offer classics like panjeon alongside playful bites like kimchi quesadillas.
Since opening in 2025, the tasting room has become a community hub for a diversity of communities.
“Of course a lot of Korean people come in, but we’ve been surprised to see so many different groups share their support for our products,” says Sophia.
Part of their community engagement has been offering classes to teach people to make their own makgeolli at home.
“Makgeolli was almost wiped out. So maybe planting it in a different place to see if it takes hold, it will keep going.” says Jooyun. “We have an artisanal drinks culture that we get to share with people. That’s why this work is important to us.”
