Brewing Moju (rice wine-based beverage with herbs and spices) at Jeonju Hanok Village

I can feel that spring is approaching, but occasional temperature drops remain. In today’s post I’ll introduce an experience just right for the last cold snap: one-day moju brewing class at Jeonju Hanok Village.

Moju, one of Jeonju’s specialties, is a rice wine-based beverage brewed with herbs and spices. It contains fairly low amount of alcohol (less than 1%) and goes well with Jeonju Kongnamul Gukbap (bean sprouts soup with rice). To brew Jeonju moju, makgeolli (Korean rice wine) is boiled with ginger, jujube, licorice, arrowroot, and other herbs and spices. When the ingredients are boiled down to half, cinnamon is added. Because of its low alcohol content and medicinal ingredients, Moju is known as a good hangover relief.

Many visitors to Jeonju buy moju for a gift or a souvenir. Moju can be easily found in Jeonju Hanok Village. But it’s also a good idea to brew your own moju to take home!

I visited Jeonju Ilmong craftwork studio. It runs the moju brewing experience in a hanok (Korean traditional building style) building.

After spotting the moju and Korean sweet nibbles table at the entrance of the building, I really feel like sipping a bowl of moju under the sun and the warm breeze.

The moju brewing experience takes about an hour. It’s a good idea to book in advance, since the experience runs according to the timetable below.

Jeonju Ilmong Moju Brewing Class
Class1 : 12:00~13:15
Class2 : 13:30~14:45
Class3 : 15:00~16:15
Class4 : 16:30~17:45
Class5 : 16:00~19:15
* Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday: from Class1 to Class4
* Friday, Saturday, and Sunday: from Class1 to Class5

I checked the body temperature before entering.

I loved the cozy and traditional feeling of the experience venue. At the center of the room was the ingredients for brewing moju.

All the ingredients are prepared by the studio. The participants can start right away.

Brewing moju at Jeonju Ilmong is not a group class. Each participants are instructed through the video shown on the tablet. The video started as I wore the earpieces. The earpieces are thoroughly disinfected after every class.

In this experience, with around 15 ingredients, the participants can choose to make one of the following: ‘sweet moju’, ‘healthy moju’, or ‘pink moju’. The ‘sweet moju’ contains all the basic ingredients of moju. The ‘healthy moju’ contains more medicinal herbs instead of fruits, hence it tastes somewhat bitter-sweet with strong scent of the medicinal herbs. The ‘pink moju’ contains fruits, flowers, and herbs on top of the basic ingredients of moju. It tasts somewhat sweet-sour. I chose to brew the ‘pink moju’.

The moju brewing proceeds in four steps. It’s nice that I can brew moju in my own pace.

Step1: listen to the descriptions about the ingredients, and prepare the ingredients

Step2: start heating up makgeolli and add the main ingredients

Step 3: Taste the moju and write the name tag. I loved the sweet flavor of my pink moju.

Step 4: pour the moju into the glass bottle provided and put the bottle into the package.

Moju has very low alcohol content, so people who can’t drink can also enjoy the pleasant flavor of Jeonju moju.

If you’re looking for a fun experience and a souvenir to remember your trip, why not try brewing Jeonju moju?

Jeonju Ilmong
Address: Hyanggyogil 93, Wansangu, Jeonju
Contact: 063-282-9047
Booking: https://linktr.ee/jeonju_ilmong