Poor-1. Rice Wine

Basic Info:

Rice wine is white and milky

Rice wine is Korean traditional alcohol drink that has color of white and is made up of either rice or wheat and yeast for the drink to become fermented. However unlike normal alcohol that are harmful, rice wine produces lactic acid bacteria that are supposed to be healthy and contain only 6% of alcohol, which is lower than other types of drinks. According to the recent discovery rice wine can prevent getting cancer and the critical age (menopause for women). 

History:

The oldest record on rice wine is during the era of 3 Kingdoms. It was used not only as drink to quench the thirst but to fill up stomach instead of the meal. Usually the farmers favored this drink. The drink was available to the peasants anywhere. It relieved stress for the hard working peasants and went along with almost any food.

Peasant men eating and drinking (rice wine) after working in the field

CCOT:

Even today rice wine is one of the popular alcohol drink for Korean people. However it has been developed by adding ginseng, fruit or other ingredients depending on individual’s taste and they have been tried to reduce the sour taste. Rice wine used to be the drink that ancient Korean peasants enjoyed to drink but today it is being exported to Japan and even to the west. In Japan, unlike Korea, the wine is considered as high class drink since it was good for the body. This is an example of Korea’s culture impacting on today’s Korean economy. 

Experience: 

Don’t judge me as corrupted child but to confess, I did try the wine few times in my life. I didn’t drink the whole bottle but a sip. I’ve always wondered how alcohol tasted like since the elders always said it was good and made them feel good. One day my dad once convinced me to take a sip of the wine. I hesitated first because first of all I was underage and second of all the smell was really bad. Still my curiosity wanted to find out the taste. I took a small sip and almost puked. The taste was really sour and bitter at the same time. As I watched my dad gulping down the wine I was freaked out. Even a small sip tasted awful. How could he drink a half of the bottle? I guess adults’ senses are weird.