It’s kinda beer, it’s kinda wine, it’s kinda neither

It’s rice.

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 through and through. 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 unpasteurized alcoholic beverage made from fermenting rice with a traditional korean starter culture called nuruk. Nuruk is a blend of microbes grown on wheat and dried out. It contains enzymes that break down the rice into sugars and the yeasts that convert the sugars to alcohol. It also imparts its own bread-y flavor to the brew.

So what is Yido?

Yido is a shortened form of 제이의도시 - 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.