In 2000, the North Korean government decided to acquire a brewery. At that point having good relations with the West, via connections to Germany, the Government of North Korea bought the intact and still in place brewery plant of the closed Ushers of Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England for £1.5 million via broker Uwe Oehms.[5] Concerned it could be used for chemical weapons production, after assurances, Peter Ward, of brewing company Thomas Hardy Brewing and Packaging bought the plant and arranged for a team from North Korea to travel to Trowbridge to dismantle it.[6] Reinstalled and operational from 2002, the brewery uses German-made computerized brewing control technology.[citation needed] Since then, North Korea has had a steady supply of beer.[7]
On 3 July 2009, a commercial for the product was broadcast on state-run Korean Central Television in a rare move, as there are very few advertisements on North Korean television.[8][9] The commercial shows technicians sampling the beer and beer bottles floating in space, shooting out foam reminiscent of a missile launch.[10] North Korea's Taepodong missiles are sometimes called "Taedong" missiles.[7] The commercial has been broadcast three times in all.[11]
Since 2016, the beer has been available in China in limited amounts.[12]
Reviews of the currently produced varieties of Taedonggang beer are somewhat mixed. The most widely available Pilsner style lager is described by The New York Times as a "full-bodied lager a little on the sweet side, with a slightly bitter aftertaste" and "one of the highest quality beers on the [Korean] peninsula for several years".[2] The BBC's Korea correspondent Steven Evans in a September 2016 review notes "an OK beer, a bit bland to my palate more used to magnificent British bitter - a bit too much like ghastly, dishwater, mass-produced American beer, in my opinion."[13]
A Finnish review of Taedonggang's brown ale notes an alcohol content of 5% and a taste significantly more bitter than most Asian beers.[citation needed] Taedonggang lager resembles British ale.[7]
Taedonggang beer is named after the Taedong River, which runs through the centre of the capital city of Pyongyang.[2]
Taedonggang beers are sorted by the amount of malt contained, and with numbers ranging from “7” to “1”. Type “1” are made of pure malt, and “5” being pure rice. Out of type “1” to “5”, the higher the number the more rice and less malt there is. Type “6” and “7” are both Schwarzbier, being “6” is made slightly more malt heavy than the other.[15] Also, Taedonggang beer type “1” and “2” exported to Mainland China are 500 ml (18 imp fl oz; 17 US fl oz), unlike the 600 ml (21 imp fl oz; 20 US fl oz) version sold in North Korea and they have different package design.
In mid-2007 availability of Taedonggang beer in South Korea began to lessen and it is widely believed now that it is no longer being imported into the country after the brewery increased the price 70% without warning.[citation needed]
According to expatriates in North Korea it is to be the most popular brand of beer, and is widely served in restaurants and bars, and in Pyongyang hotels catering to foreign visitors, where a small bottle costs about 0.5 euro.[2]
^"朝鲜电商产品 I 朝鲜大同江啤酒1...7号的区别" [Chosen Eletroic Products I Differences between Chosen Taedonggang beer type “1”...”7”] (in Chinese). 大力. 2020-11-04. Retrieved 2021-05-23.
^Hokkanen, Jouni (2013). Pohjois-Korea: Siperiasta itään [North Korea: East of Siberia] (in Finnish). Helsinki: Johnny Kniga. p. 272. ISBN978-951-0-39946-0.
Bärtås, Magnus; Ekman, Fredrik (2014). Hirviöidenkin on kuoltava: Ryhmämatka Pohjois-Koreaan [All Monsters Must Die: An Excursion to North Korea] (in Finnish). Translated by Eskelinen, Heikki. Helsinki: Tammi. pp. 31–32. ISBN978-951-31-7727-0.
