Visiting South Korea (2017 Winter Update)

Thanks for the list. I live here in Korea, and I've been to Magpie and it was fantastic. My wife has been pregnant, and she loves beer so our drinking has taken a hit. After the baby comes this month I plan to take her to visit many of the brewpubs around Seoul. Your list makes that an easier to define task.

 

Thanks for making this. Recently took a trip to Seoul and hit a few of these places.

It was really great checking out the beer scene in Seoul. It's clearly just starting to explode and everyone I talked to was enthusiastic like I haven't seen in years.

Highlights:
Amazing Brewing was the best across multiple styles and had a pretty cool space to boot. Highly recommended.
Pong Dang - the small taproom in the Gangnam area was just okay but I stopped by the one in Itaewon on a different night and really liked it. They tout their lighter beers but I found their stouts to be much better.
Magpie - only got to try two beers here but both were very good, especially the barleywine.
White Rabbit Taproom - the owner is the nicest person I met in the entire country. Tiny but cool little taproom with tons of personality. His Black Rabbit stout was excellent.
Mikkeller Bar was a cool spot in a cool area. Worth a stop if you have time or are nearby but not really worth squeezing in.

Overall, I had a great beer experience in a city I didn't really expect it in, which was just the cherry on top of the best vacation I've ever taken. Seoul is an amazing city and I can't wait to go back.

 

Wild Wave's tap room has moved (I have the address lying around somewhere). It's quite far from the centre but so worth it.

Just got back from 2 weeks in Busan and Seoul and am quite surprised by the quality of craft beer and craft beer bars in both cities. The smoking ban is much much appreciated. I enjoyed the craft beer scene in SK more than in Japan for several reasons.

 

Just visited Seoul and will second the recommendations of Amazing Brewery. Had a good IPA, a so-so New England IPA (all of the Asian breweries I went to haven't seem to gotten the hang of this style, at least by Los Angeles standards), and enjoyed Rocket Man, a Belgian quadrupel. They also serve a pretty good sausage platter, they take US credit cards, and they're kid-friendly (brought my 9 year old). I suggest using the Naver Map app to find this place, it's on a side street a few blocks east of Seoul Forest

 

http://bartrekseoul.com/

 

If in Songdo just outside of Incheon check out:

Thirsty Monk: has several (nearly all) variants of Weihenstephaner on tap, as well as Big Eye from ballast point. Excellent food too. Located in the Orakai Hotel.

Cave Beer: Brew their own IPAs. On par with “mass produced” IPAs in the US. Their pizza is out of this world as well. Reasonably priced.

Amazing Brewery: Similar to its Seoul counterpart, but the atmosphere is less family friendly. Service leaves much to be desired, but the beers are, um, amazing and varied. Food is ok but you don’t go there for the food.

 

I’m heading back this Thursday for 5 days. Last visit was In April.
From my last visit I would highly recommend Neighborhood Pizza in Songdo. This is the place if your looking for Galmegi beers. They have all the Galmegi beers on tap plus other local guest beers. The bonus is the pizza. Outstanding. It’s on a very small street/alley like. Might be a bit hard to find if your taking the subway to Songdo Station and walking to Neighborhood. Taxi would be the best source. I’m definitely stopping in again this trip back. Pizza and Galmegi!
I’m going to add a couple of more places from our April trip. I made it to Gangnam area and hit up Goose Island Seoul. I don’t do the Goose. Only on my planes when they have something Goose in cans. I’m glad I stopped in at the Goose Seoul Brewery. This place was beautiful and good size. But very pricey. Average price ₩9000 per pour. Some over 9. A full menu of Seoul brewed beers and the usual Goose offering. It’s also a restaurant. I met the head brewer who is from Norway or Finland. Sorry I don’t remember his name. I don’t think I’ll re visit on this trip. I wanted to check out Mikkeller Seoul last time but ran out of time. Down the street from Goose is World Of Beers. Over stayed here. Beer heaven with food. But I stuck with the local Korea craft offerings. There’s a few other bars/pubs in the Gangnam area (bartrekseoul.com) that I’d like to check out. I may just stick to the City Center area this trip. But would like to find a nice bottle shop for beers to go.
One other place I’d like to mention is The Cinder Bar in Incheon. Warren the owner just opened a second location next to Incheon Airport. Looks like I’ll be stopping in the airport location just before our 6pm flight back to America. I met Warren 5 years ago when we stayed in Incheon. Very nice guy from Kiwi Land. Check out the cinder Bar on IG. He had 3 tap handle back then. He had Lost Coast Tangerine Wheat on. Soon after that he got a keg of OG Sculpin. It took off from there. I’ll be bringing him some bottles and cans.

 

Where is Wine&More?
Edit: looks like there’s one next to our hotel. Let’s hope so.