Happy Friday again, beer fans! Stop in and share a cold one.
This is among the strangest beer news I can remember seeing:
A German brewer has spurned a request by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to open a beer garden and brewery in his isolated communist country, a news report said.
Quartz provides some good background on this strange request:
North Koreans—at least well-connected ones—are crazy for beer, with palates developed under the reign of Kim’s father, Dear Leader Kim Jong-Il. The elder Kim, who died in 2011, was known for his love of the finest Hennessy cognac and concubines. Less known were his efforts to create a decent locally-made North Korean beer.
The quest began in 2000 when Kim caught wind that the Ushers brewery in Wiltshire, England had shut down... The North Koreans struck a deal, dismantled the plant, shipped it to Pyongyang and painstakingly reassembled it.
Of course, as a wise man said:
You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer.
If helping Kim get some better beer might ease his desire for those nuclear weapons, maybe Paulaner should be urged to reconsider for the sake of world peace. Various American business leaders have been to North Korea in recent months (plus flake-at-large Dennis Rodman); sending Ken Grossman and Tomme Arthur on a mission might have better long term results.
Credit to Beerpulse for both the links above.
I've got Union Jack in front of me right now. What are you drinking?