It's the beer that came in from the cold; the Cold War that is. Brewed beyond the Korean DMZ in the capital of Pyongyang, Taedonggang beer is not only being swilled by the comrades in North Korea but also in the pubs of capitalist Seoul.

The beer may be brewed in North Korea but the brewery is British. In 2000, North Korea purchased the Ushers Brewery of Wiltshire for £1.5 million, and sent twelve engineers to dismantle and ship the entire 500,000-barrel plant. Two years later, the state-owned brewery was in production and in 2005, they exported Taedonggang to South Korea.

Named after the Taedong River that flows through the capital city, some of the 500 milliliter bottles are green, others are brown, but they have one thing in common: they have a rough-handled appearance from being recycled many times over after surviving numerous drinking bouts. The bottle caps can be pinched in half, as if the state-owned brewery is trying to skimp on aluminum. There is even a warning on the label—that too much drinking can cause liver problems and that there is a higher accident rate when driving under the influence; an ironic statement coming from a land of empty boulevards where few citizens own vehicles.

For beer connoisseurs, it holds 5% alcohol content and when compared with other lagers on the world stage, it might earn only a friendly shrug but it is not a beer that one would turn away on a hot summer day. With the first drink there is a slight absence of taste but as soon as you swallow, the beery backwash pleasantly reveals itself on your palate. Some American and European expats based in South Korea consider it a step up from the watery domestic lagers.

Kim Jong-il, the dictator of North Korea and a Hennessey cognac drinker, gave the beer his approval after the brewery first opened. According to a report by the Korean Central News Agency, Kim "noted with great pleasure that it has now become possible to supply more fresh beer to people in all seasons."

Copyright © James Card.