Hwayang

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Hwayang (375 ml) 'Pungjeong Sagye' Winter 23 Soju, Cheongju (46 proof)	Login	—	In Stock
Hwayang (375 ml) 'Pungjeong Sagye' Winter 42 Soju, Cheongju (84 proof)	Login	—	<1 Case

Hwayang Brewery is Korean sool producer led by a husband-and-wife team who handcraft each batch of Pungjeong Sagye. The name Hwayang means “harmony,” reflecting the brewery’s philosophy of creating balanced, harmonious sool in which no single element overwhelms another.

The brewery is in Pungjeong Village in Cheongju, Chungcheongbuk-do, an area long celebrated for the purity and quality of its water. The name Pungjeong evokes the “well of the maple tree,” referring to a local spring historically prized for its exceptionally clean, delicious water. This landscape and the changing seasons surrounding the village inspired Pungjeong Sagye. “Sagye” means “four seasons,” represented through four distinct expressions of traditional Korean sool.

At the heart of every Pungjeong Sagye is the same foundation: Cheongju rice, local water, and Hyang-On-Gok, the brewery’s traditional nuruk. Hwayang is one of the relatively few contemporary sool producers to make its own nuruk entirely in-house, a labor-intensive craft that requires considerable skill and experience. Pressed by hand and made with a combination of grains and mung beans, Hyang-On-Gok provides the microorganisms responsible for fermentation while contributing remarkable depth and complexity to the finished sool.

From this single nuruk, Hwayang creates four different styles, each representing a season.
- Spring: Chungju (clear rice brew)
- Summer: Gwahaju (fortified chungju - developed to be resilient against the summer heat)
- Fall: Takju (cloudy, richer rice brew)
- Winter: Soju (distilled chungju)

The four expressions demonstrate the remarkable versatility of traditional Korean fermentation. The same nuruk, rice, and water can produce dramatically different results depending on how the brew is fermented, separated, fortified, or distilled. Together, the four bottles tell a single story through the changing seasons of Pungjeong.

All Pungjeong Sagye sool is made without artificial additives and is naturally matured in traditional earthenware vessels for more than 100 days. This patient approach results in sool defined by clarity, balance, and complexity while remaining true to Hwayang’s guiding principle of harmony.

Hwayang Brewery’s meticulous approach has earned Pungjeong Sagye recognition as one of the notable names in Korea’s contemporary traditional sool movement. In 2017, Pungjeong Sagye was served at the state dinner held during the U.S. presidential visit to South Korea.