Alice Jun

Born: Santa Maria, CA — 1993 / Living: Brooklyn, NY

Interview by Philo Cohen — April 2021

Philo Cohen: How did Hana Makgeolli's production come to be? 

Alice Jun: Home-brewing was something I learned from my father and something we did at home. The passing down of cooking, fermenting and other forms of making in my family, from generation to generation, is so important and something that is so under-appreciated when we're young. I didn’t want to gloss over that knowledge and practice that was handed down to me, and instead, acknowledge how these teachings shaped and defined my identity. In this sense, I think that I was really lucky. My dad taught me how to change my tires, he taught me how to brew - he’s that kind of dad. And my mom is a physical therapist and acupuncturist, so she taught me how to become very aware of my body. I think it all starts there and I'm very privileged in the sense that in my childhood my parents were atypical in their mentality. 

My mom once told me, “you can be a hairstylist, an artist, a plumber – be whatever you want to be, just be the best at it.” It creates this perspective that allows creativity and imagination. A kind of energy that frees you to not just be ambitious, but think about things as if they were truly possible. It's a total shift from some people’s mindsets, right? This is especially true these days. 

Currently, I’m looking back at our progress and I'm reminded of our true origins. How did I know I wanted to make brewing my life? I feel so lucky that I was able to find my passion early on and remember feeling certain and confident in pursuing brewing even though I didn’t know everything about it. All I knew was that I needed to figure it out because no one else was. It really is a culmination of the support from my family, the support from my business partner, all my friends, and the food and beverage community in New York that led me to start Hana Makgeolli. We were lucky to have this support and encouragement and that is what helped us get where we are or at least get started. 

PC: Tell me more about your motivation to make Makgeolli here, in New York.

AJ: The decision to start Hana Makgeolli here in New York wasn't really a choice. There was no calculation or strategy involved in it. I went to school here, ended up staying here, and made NYC my home. New York also happens to be a place where Korean food is forging a really exciting path. The industry around Korean food has undergone a lot of change in the last few years, and while people wouldn't necessarily agree, I'd say more often than not it’s being diluted or adapted in a way that stagnates people’s ability to learn more about the cuisine and the culture. But, in New York people have been playing with and pushing the boundaries of Korean food in a way that is more authentic and exciting than anything I’ve seen elsewhere. All of this is coupled with New York being a place of intersection between natural wine, craft beer, and a more mature sake market. When I was home-brewing and doing events I was met with all of these forces and I happened to stumble upon the perfect moment. I feel very passionate about adding to the discussion from the perspective of traditional sool, and this is why I feel New York is our home.

PC: What advice might you tell someone younger?

AJ: If I had the opportunity to speak to younger people, the one thing that I'd want to make a point of is to not be afraid to pursue the mastery of something. I think a lot of people these days are afraid of being pigeonholed and they don't want to commit to something, which is fine. It's very important to discover who you are and what you want to do, but a part of that won’t happen unless you go deep into something. I was obsessed with brewing and because of that I never doubted it as my path... Whether or not Hana Makgeolli exists in the future, brewing will always be something that I'm pursuing the mastery of. 

PC: Can you talk about women within the history of brewing in Korea? About the history of Hana Makgeoli’s logo.

AJ: The history of brewing as a domestic practice is really interesting and often not considered, but all booze, not just Korean alcohol, was originated as a part of domestic life and as a result was made and documented by women. Across most cultures, it was a woman’s job to brew until men realized how lucrative of a skill it was. It’s a funny and simple perspective, but generally true. The inspiration for our logo starts first with paying respect to these women that established and advanced Korean brewing methodologies. From there, she is strong and grounded to represent the general flavor profile of our sool – her body is also shaped like traditional onggi (Korean clay fermentation vessels) and her head is the letter ‘H’ in Korean. 

PC: What would sool look like as a person?

AJ: I feel like everyone has a tendency to either personify things or have strong association tendencies. For example, maybe they’re reminded of a song when they taste a wine – or they’re reminded of a time or a place. When I taste something, especially wines, I think of people. Who would this wine be? What kind of personality would they have? For my sool, I did play around with thoughts like, “Maybe she’s sexy or maybe she’s super elegant.” But, in the end, it just made sense that she was very round and big and strong because our wines are round and big and strong, you know? They are a much higher ABV than other more conventional sool that are available on the market today and have such a deep complexity. It was also important to me to say that it was these kinds of women that were brewing. They were strong and warm and disciplined and I’d say a little punk.

PC: This is such a great story of the brand and logo. I know you have a business degree, did you ever have to think about the brand “commercially”?

AJ: Honestly, at the time I never considered whether the logo or the brand concept was commercially viable. The original inspiration and the reason why she in particular stuck is because of her story. There’s so much to her in part because of the time it took to build Hana Makgeolli to this point and also because sool as a category and as a tradition is deeply storied. So, luckily, I never had to think about it from a perspective of “How do I market this?” The sool really speaks for itself and our rule of thumb is just to be honest about it. To try to give people the full details and not be afraid of scaring them with new information, because education and discovery is the point. Why would we want to dilute this story? We respect it if you don’t have the time for it, but if you do, why not get to know something new?

PC: You’re a woman making this in the U.S., in this extremely male-dominated industry of winemakers, of wine importers, of wine distributors that are all men, except a few. I wonder if you feel it at all during your day-to-day?

AJ: I do feel it on a day-to-day basis more than I’d like to admit. When you’re talking about representation in this industry on behalf of women, you’re like “hell, let’s go!” But when you are the woman, it’s a bit awkward and scary because you’re being observed and may be judged. Not to say that Hana Makgeolli exists because women should be the only ones making this kind of wine, but it would be a lie if I said I wasn’t proud of it.  It’s not at the forefront of why I do this work, because it could really be any other person. What is important though is one – that there is a commitment to learning and authenticity in some way and then two – respect for Korean culture as to not define or colonize sool in a singular way. The sool tradition is complex and because so much of the knowledge was lost as a result of famine, war, or industrialization – and never really rejuvenated with the institutional resources and gusto that industries like beer, wine, or sake received – it is so easy for people to minimize it. I hope that as the sool industry grows, there is a respect for the knowledge contained within sool as an intuitive or cultural practice and for the variety of methods, techniques, and recipes that have yet to be re-discovered.