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Monday, July 6, 2009

News

North Korea makes a small step toward capitalism

Posted by Owen Morris on Mon, Jul 6, 2009 at 11:30 AM

Sometime in the 1940s, right here in America, the world's first beer commercial was televised. 


Now, 60-some years later, North Korea has decided to get into the game with a three-minute opus on the wonders of Taedonggang beer. To classic slogans such as "Great taste, less filling" and "Hey Mabel, black label," you can now add "Reminds of the pure and beautiful flow of the Taedong River."

The lager is made in a formerly British factory that the North Korean government bought and then shipped -- piece by piece -- to Pyongyang. (Here is a satellite photo of it.) Apparently the beer still retains part of its British heritage in taste and is much more bitter than normal Asian lagers.

It's served in South Korea and the DMZ. Of course, Beer Advocate already has reviews of it. 

One calls it "very drinkable ... more flavorful than many of its American or South Korean (blech) counterparts." Over at the BBC though, commentators have noted that compared with British lagers "it tasted sour and bitter and was sometimes cloudy."


The video of the commercial is below. Unfortunately no subtitled version exists, but a news station in Tampa has done a partial translation.



Translation: 

Pride of Pyongyang, Taedongkang (Taedong River in North Korea) Beer
White rice beer 
Unique flavor 
Reminds of the pure and beautiful flow of the Taedong River
It suits people's taste 
Medical action: gets rid of stress and has diuretic effect 
contributes to long lives of the people
Our pride, Taedongkang Beer 
The beer will make contribution to our people's lives and it will become more familiar with our people

In a couple of more years, they'll have the jingles down pat.

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This beer is not "new." I drank it as early as 2005 when I was living in South Korea. Just because the West has recently caught onto it doesn't make it new.

It also doesn't taste very good, and I'm sure it's loaded with all kinds of delicious chemicals.

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Posted by Brittanie on July 7, 2009 at 2:38 PM
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