North Korea has rebuilt a brewery in Pyongyang brick by brick, with staff given a “crash course”; on how to properly brew beer
North Korea has tagged the brewery it imported brick by brick from Trowbridge as one of the top 10 companies in the secret state.
Daedonggang Brewery praised for its State media say they have contributed to a «five-year national economic development plan» along with other firms, including one that supplies food to zoos and a pharmaceutical factory.
The brewery opened in the North Korean capital 21 years ago formerly based in Wiltshire and owned by Ushers, specialists in regional bitters.
The brewery was purchased in 2000 for £1.5 million by the North Korean government. , which then dismantled the 175-year-old property and sent it piece by piece to Pyongyang for restoration along with 20,000 kegs.
The sale was only allowed after the British government received assurances that the equipment could not be converted to chemical weapons production and involved a North Korean delegation traveling to the UK for months of training under brewer Gary Todd.
«I had to give them a crash course in brewing and we spent a lot of time learning the ropes, but they seem to have gotten it because they're working there now,» said Mr Todd, who was head brewer at the plant until it did not close and was not asked to help with the sale.
The brewery was purchased in 2000 by the North Korean government for 1.5 million pounds sterling. Photo: Jin H. Lee/Getty Images AsiaPac
Mr Todd said he was able to check on the brewery's progress several years ago when a British journalist told him a bottle of beer had been returned to him after a visit to North Korea.
“I have to say I was pleasantly surprised because was sure they were used as brewing materials,” he said.
“It was slightly oxidized, but the taste was quite good, quite pleasant.”
According to North Korea, the brewery uses water from natural springs in the Milim district of Pyongyang, as well as barley and hops grown domestically.
The beer contains an alcohol content of 5.7 percent. stronger than most breweries produced in East Asia.
Pyongyang's designation as a leading enterprise this week was a confirmation that the brewery is «producing and operating on a new scientific basis.»
Last July, Taedongang Brewery celebrated its 20th anniversary.
The state-run Korean Central News Agency said at the time that the plant was «built under the supervision of Chairman Kim Jong Il,» who was North Korea's leader when reconstruction of the plant began at the beginning of the millennium. /p>
Kim has “initiated the construction of a new factory to produce the highest quality beer for the people,” KCNA reported.
He is also said to have chosen a site for a brewery on the banks of the Taedong River.
The alcohol content of beer is 5.7 percent. Photo: KIM WON-JIN/AFP
After Kim's death in 2011, Kim Jong Un, his son and heir, enthusiastically supported the brewery.
He visited the brewery several times to «urge its officials and workers to further improve the taste and quality of beer and thereby bring honor to the distillery as popular among the people.»
However, ordinary North Koreans who enjoy a selection of four beers, including brown ale and a Pilsner-style lager, which is described as sweet but with a bitter aftertaste, still do not pay attention to the English roots of the brewery.
< p>With little domestic know-how, North Korea had reportedly been scouring Europe for some time for a suitable brewery to produce the regime's flagship beer before a German agent came across the Ushers property, which had recently been closed.
After North Korea attempted to buy the facility, including all its equipment and fixtures, it sent its citizens to the UK to learn the trade from Mr Todd and his colleagues.
They were complete newbies, he said, and extensive training was required.
The training lasted five months while the brewery was dismantled around them, carefully packing every brick, light fixture, window and tile for shipment to North Korea.
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The training lasted five months.
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All brewery equipment was dismantled and sent to Severnaya Korea. Photo: John Robertson
“A fairly large group arrived, including government officials, translators, and “brewing experts,” who were as clueless as ever about brewing. I had a brewery in North Korea,” Mr. Todd said.
But he said he was amazed at how thorough the North Koreans were.
“They wanted to rebuild the brewery exactly as it was it was in the time of the Ushers, so they dismantled all the brickwork one by one, removed all the tiles from the floor and all the bolts that were sticking out of the floor.
“They were fascinated by the toilet seats, which they had never seen before, and pulled out all the plastic cups from the machine — they were like gold dust to them.”
The North Koreans even insisted on using the elevator , which was located in the center of the brewery, but did not work and was in unusable condition 20 years ago.
Mr. Todd and the rest of the British team helping on the project were unable to engage in private conversations with their North Korean counterparts as government officials quickly intervened, he said, and they were all taken away at the end of each working day. , and would not be seen again until the next morning.
They certainly never slept in the Trowbridge pub, he said, which was unfortunate given that they were trying to recreate British brewing culture.
North Koreans caught the brewery by surprise
Towards the end of the project, the North Koreans caught Mr. Todd by surprise when they asked if he would travel with them to Pyongyang to oversee the brewery's renovation and make sure it would work properly.
It would be a commitment of at least two years.
“I said no pretty quickly,” he said. “I had a young family at the time and didn’t want to take the risk.”
But more than two decades later, he said he would have loved the chance to see it in action.
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“I would love to go and see a brewery in Pyongyang,” Mr. Todd said. «But I don't think that will ever happen.»
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