What is the best beer in North Korea? When it comes to making beer North Korea are the artisans of East Asia. The most popular beer in North Korea Taedonggang is somewhat better than Cass, or even the best selling beer in the world Snow.
But, it is the microbrewery and dark beer scene that North Korea really outshines its neighbors, with multiple bars and restaurants making amazing beers in house that can be enjoyed by tourists and locals alike.
We’ve decided to compile our list of our 5 best beers you can try in Pyongyang.
Five best beers in North Korea and the bars where you can drink them!
Rakwon Beer Bar Yellow – Pale Lager – North Am. / Light / Rice
A classic pale lager that is somewhat moorish! This can be sampled at Raekwon Beer Bar, which is not only one of our favorite bars, but also offers one of the best beer ranges of any bar in Pyongyang.
Yanggakdo Hotel Draft Beer – Pale Lager – North Am. / Light / Rice
The Yanggakdo Hotel is of course legendary for many reasons, one element being its famous beer. Available at the tea house this beer has been watering the masses for many a year. Full of hops and very lively sometimes the quality of the lager can be a little variable.
Taedonggang Number 6 – Dark Lager – Dunkel / Tmavý
Taedonggang are most famous for their bottled lager, but they also have their own bar and a range of craft beers. Taedonggang number 6 is their main dark beer. This is extremely lively and flavoursome. The Taedonggang Restaurant is a proper Pyongyang Pub!
KITC Mangyŏngdae – Pale Lager – North Am. / Light / Rice
Served at a few of the restaurant owned by KITC, or the Korean International Travel Company. This is far from the best beer in North Korea, in fact a bit like Pyongyangs anewer to Carlsberg. This is a very bog-standard lager, but its cheap, safe and does the trick.
Koryo Hotel Yellow Beer – Weissbier – Hefeweizen
A german style Weissbier – Hefeweizen. Full of hops, cloudy and very flavoursome. Probably the best draft beer that you can buy in Pyongyang. Available at the Koryo Hotel. It is fairly rare for tourists to stay here, but it is worth a visit just to knock back a pint.
And those are my favorite 5 beers you can drink in Pyongyang, a rather tough list to create as there are literally so many good beers made in Pyongyang.
Sadly it looks unlikely that visiting North Korea will happen in 2020, but we’re hopeful for 2021.