South Korea: Magpie Brewing opens new facility on Jeju Island

Magpie Brewing, one of the driving forces behind Korea's craft beer industry, has opened a new full-sized brewery on Jeju Island, The Korea Times reported on May 31.

The brewery was opened with a day-long party on May 28. As well as offering discounted brews, Magpie invited Jeju Island's four most famous food trucks, plus Linus' Bama Style Barbecue from Seoul, which served two whole pigs.

"It was actually way crazier than we expected," said Erik Moynihan, co-owner and managing director of Magpie.

He said they had hoped for 200 guests, but more than 700 came to the rural village where the brewery is located, about 20 minutes east of urban Jeju City.

The brewery, once fully operational, will make beer for all three Magpie brewpub locations ― Hongdae and Gyeongnidan in Seoul, and Tap-dong in Jeju City.

The Jeju location opened late in 2014, on invitation by Arario Group, which owns the building and provides a rent discount.

"They didn't invest directly into us ― it's almost like they're our patron," said Moynihan. "Once we were down here, we realized we needed to open a full-sized brewery."

They arranged with Arario to convert an old tangerine warehouse and processing facility into their brewery.

Previously, Magpie had been contract brewing with other brewers, a common industry practice. For the past three years, they had been making beer at facilities owned by The Table. Previously, they worked with 7Brau and Ka-Brew.

But having their own facility gives them freedom to experiment with recipes and increase their capacity. They have also installed a small bottling line and may begin bottling their product. It will only be sold at their brewpubs, as regulations restrict indirect sales.

Started by self-described "beer nerds" and "evangelical beer lovers," the company remains a passion project, as Moynihan explains they want to keep things small rather than grow, in the face of complicated regulatory hurdles. "Tax benefits are on our side to keep it smaller," said Moynihan, adding he wishes they could create jobs and "have a team that can grow with us."

He said they hope the government eases regulations to recognize craft brewing as a creative growth industry, "but we're not holding our breath."

They have already seen ― and influenced ― a sea change in beer regulations since starting. Despite being entirely owned by foreigners, Moynihan considers the company and the product wholly Korean and takes pride in that, reflected in the symbolism of the company name.

"When a magpie calls, it means a good visitor is coming to your village," said co-owner Tiffany Needham. "We hope we can be that good visitor."

02 June, 2016