It’s time for Chicago to have rice wine.

I’m Peter Chung and I’ve been homebrewing Korean makgeolli for six years and am finally on a path to being able to have more people in Chicago try this incredible beverage.

Chicago is a food and drink city. Yet, we’re the largest city in the U.S.A. that doesn’t have a rice wine brewery (neither sake, makgeolli, nor any other rice alcohol). Chicago deserves its own craft rice winery.

What’s makgeolli?

Makgeolli (mock-GOAL-lee) is an incredible, naturally fermented rice wine from Korea. It’s produced using steamed rice, water, and nuruk, a starter culture typically made from pressed wheat.

The nuruk enzymes are able to break down the complex starches in the rice into simple sugars giving yeasts an ample food source to make alcohol and carbon dioxide. There are hundreds of regional varieties, flavors, and traditions with makgeolli. What Yido is doing is just a small peek into the vast world of rice wine.

Cheers!

So what is Yido?

Yido is a shortened form of 제2의도시 - which means second city in Korean. Right now it’s a home-brew project with a dream of being Chicago’s craft rice brewery. As a homebrewer, I can produce and give away up to 200 gallons of alcohol a year. So that’s what I’m going to do! Reach out to me at peter@yidobrews.com to get a sample.