○ ‘Mimi Sour’ rice beer developed by Gyeonggi Province wins gold medal at international beer competition in Japan
○ Rice beer with improved flavor and manufacturing process patented by Gyeonggi-do Agricultural Research & Extension Services transferred to Eight People Brewery in Namyangju City
○ Sour beer with superior acidic taste using 50% Gyeonggi’s Charm Dream rice

‘Mimi Sour’ rice beer developed by Gyeonggi Province won the gold medal in the American Style Sour Ale category at The International Beer Cup (IBC) 2022 in Japan, one of the world’s top three beer competitions.

The IBC competition, the largest craft beer event in Asia, has been held every year in Japan since 1996. Entries are judged by approximately 70 beer experts from around the world with gold, silver, and bronze awards being presented in each category.

At the beginning of the year, the Gyeonggi-do Agricultural Research & Extension Services transferred technology for a “rice beer with improved flavor and manufacturing process” to Eight People Brewery (CEO Jo Jun-hwi) in Namyangju City. Eight People Brewery used this to launch ‘Mimi Sour’ rice beer and started selling it in May.

Gyeonggi Province’s rice beer has realized a differentiated flavor by increasing the proportion of Charm Dream rice to 50% (54.9% based on starch). The gold medal-winning ‘Mimi Sour’ is a type of sour beer with a taste attributable to the acidic characteristics of the rice used during fermentation. Although sour beer is generally enjoyed only by enthusiasts due to its strong acidity, the newly released rice beer is less acidic and so can be served as an aperitif and also pairs well with Korean food.

Although beer consumption has recently increased among young people, most of the main ingredients for beer are imported agricultural products, so the increased beer consumption has not contributed significantly to the income of domestic farmers. Accordingly, the Gyeonggi-do Agricultural Research & Extension Services developed a rice beer with a high rice content and applied for a patent in 2020 based on this new beer that increases rice consumption and utilizes domestic agricultural products as the main ingredients.

Lee Young-soon, Director of the Crop Research Division at the Gyeonggi-do Agricultural Research & Extension Services, asserted, “We anticipate that this rice beer containing Charm Dream rice, having received top honors at an international competition, will lead to an increase in rice consumption in Gyeonggi Province… As part of our efforts to increase the use of Gyeonggi’s agricultural products, we will support research on alcohol using local agricultural products, including the development of beer with fruit in the coming year.”

Eight People Brewery entered products made with the technology transferred from the Gyeonggi-do Agricultural Research & Extension Services in the craft beer category at the 2022 Korea Liquor Awards and received the grand prize.