B.C. Craft Beers Making Major Inroads in Hip South Korean Neighbourhoods

A newfound thirst for strong craft beer in South Korea has a Fraser Valley brewing company sending a wave of tasty ales and lagers overseas to meet demand.

Mission Springs Brewing Company is exporting between 2,000 and 4,000 litres of its craft brews monthly to Seoul, where the company opened its first 40-seat Springs Tap House in the Itaewon neighbourhood in June 2013, and another 50-seat pub four months later in the Cheongdam neighbourhood of Seoul’s posh Gangnam district.

The company is now near securing a third location, also in Itaewon, and planning a fourth in Busan.

“I want to open 10 more,” said Brock Rodgers, co-owner of Mission Springs, “It’s been a hugely positive reception. Itaewon is a gangbuster of a store.”

Rodgers and Ken Brookes opened the first Mission Springs pub in B.C. in 1988, but Rodgers looked to Seoul a few years ago following the advice of his son, Santino Sortino, who had opened three thriving Italian restaurants in the capital city with a population close to 10 million.

“He had always been bugging me, ‘Bring the beer, let’s do something with the beer here,’” Rodgers said. “The problem I could never get around is what do you do with the empty steel kegs.”

The solution came when Rodgers discovered KeyKegs, recyclable plastic beer kegs made in the Netherlands.

With KeyKegs, Rodgers could send shipments of beer to Korea on a two-week freighter trip for about $1,500 to $2,000, and not have to worry about getting his expensive steel kegs back.

Head brewer Kevin Winter said the brewery ships about 20 to 30 per cent of its total production to Korea to quench demand at the pubs.

Rodgers decided against opening a brewery in Korea because of “weird laws” that make it tough for smaller operations, but found it easier to open pubs there than in B.C.

“There’s no building permits, no nothing, you just do it,” he said. “They do come and inspect it, but you do it and then they come and say, ‘Yeah, this is OK.’”

Just one month after Rodgers took possession of the property in Itaewon, the first Mission Springs Tap House was open for business.

A 300 millilitre glass of Mission Springs beer sells for around $10 or $11 CAD, but the high price doesn’t deter Korean customers, who are trying Mission Springs’ entire list and asking staff questions about production, flavour and ingredients, Rodgers’ son Ian said.

“The one that’s in Itaewon is, like, a party zone,” he said, after returning from his first trip to South Korea earlier this week.

“It’s packed every single night, just rammed full of people, and it’s on one of the main strips.”

Ian Rodgers said strong dark beers and light lagers tend to be most popular, but Korean customers are warming up to hoppy IPAs.

“Definitely craft beer’s at the beginning of a trend, so you’re getting a lot of people new to the beer trying out stuff that they just haven’t tried before.”

Article writen by BY NICK EAGLAND, THE PROVINCE on November 6, 2014

Photograph by Arlen Redekop , The Province