"Liquor begins from a drop of water" is the quote on the front of the brochure. i found the museum by accident last Sunday as my friend Insun and I were driving in the country outside of Pyounghwa dong. I stopped on the siding of a curve near the top of a mountain so we could get a good look at the land below. It was beautiful, the villages, the land divided and ready for crops, the smaller mountain and the lake. While we were observing the lovely sight, I noticed a new white horseshoe shaped building. We both wondered what it was. We decided that since we had the afternoon to spare, we would go take a look. The first road took us to a dead end in a village. On the second try I saw the Theme Museum signs and followed them. They brought us to the huge white building, an expansive parking lot with a washroom and playground and gardens. In the garden were flowering trees and statues. I liked the old stone men drinking and the giant drinking die. In case you are not familiar with the word, here die means one, dice are two or more. I bought one at the Jeonju National Museum years ago. It says things like "sing a song" and "drink two cups".









We entered the first building only to be redirected to the building behind. The first building is for tasting some alcohol in tiny little cups AFTER you buy the entrance to the museum. The tickets from the machine were only 2,000 each. There are tons of stairs and fortunately for me, also several elevators. You enter on B1, where there are beautiful examples of old furniture. On the first floor we found the only tobacco museum in Korea, with many packages of cigarettes illustrating the history of smoking in Korea. I thought it was cool because I spent a summer working at the Ontario Tobacco Museum, because my county was the primary growing area for tobacco in Canada. Then we entered an area of alcohol bottles, Korean and others. Insun and I could identify some we have. They had a display area of a "da bang" and how they were used as places to spread democracy.









On the third floor were the biggest displays. There was the room with many Korean artifacts of alcohol - vats where it was made, heavy jars it was carried in, an article about the arrest of men who made makgolli with dirty water, so many interesting things! The museum boasts that they have over 50,000 items and I believe it. There were recreations of Korean pubs that i have been in for photo ops. There was information on when prohibition was alive in Korea and a hall of master brewers. All the different fancy alcohol bottles were interesting. My parents had some of them, and I have a few of the miniatures. Some I would like to have. There were cinemas there too, but we didn't have the time to watch any film. Years ago in Wanju I had a lesson on makgolli making for foreigners. Here they have many different classes available with a reservation for things like making makgolli, wine, beer, cocktails, and for the family, making cookies or yeast pizza, among many others. 



Before we left of course we went to the alcohol tasting building. We could choose two types. I liked the fruit wine. It was sweet but would be perfect for desserts but I only took a tiny sip because I was driving. They didn't sell the alcohol but gave us information where we could purchase it. The brochure claims the museum's shape embodies the shape of a drop of alcohol spreading on the surface of water. I prefer to think it is the shape of a soju cup which is empty and needs refilling.