The Taedonggang Brewing Company () is a state-owned North Korean beer brewery company that brews the Taedonggang beer. The brewery is located in East Pyongyang and has facilities of tens of thousands of square meters.
History In 2000, Kim Jong-il decided the country needed a showcase brewery. At that point having good relationships with the West, via connections to Germany the Government of North Korea bought the intact and still in place brewery plant of the closed Ushers of Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England for £1.5M via broker Uwe Oehms. Concerned it could be used for chemical weapons production, after assurances, Peter Ward, of brewing company Thomas Hardy Brewing and Packaging bought the plant, and arranged for a team from North Korea to travel to Trowbridge to dismantle it. Groundbreaking of the Taedonggang Beer Factory took place on 15 January 2000. The brewery is located in the Sadong District of Pyongyang.
Taedonggang beer is named after the Taedong River, which runs through the center of Pyongyang. The Chongryu Bridge is featured on the bottle cap.
On July 3, 2009, a commercial for the product was broadcast on state-run Korean Central Television. This is a rare move, as there are very few advertisements on North Korean television.In apparent first, North Korea airs beer commercial on state TV. Los Angeles Times. July 3, 2009North Korea launches beer advert. BBC News Online. July 3, 2009 It has been broadcast three times in all.N.Korea Ends Experiment with TV Commercials. The Chosun Ilbo. November 9, 2009
Products
The Taedonggang Brewing Company is mostly known outside the DPRK as the producer of the beer known as Taedonggang beer, which is the flagship beer of the companies. In addition, the brewery also produces a brand of draught, a brand of black beer and a rice beer.
See also
Beer in North Korea Korean cuisine Pyongyang Ostrich Farm
References Citations
Works cited
External links Ratebeer: Taedonggang Brewery Pyongyang Report: Would you like a Taedonggang Beer? "Pyongyang Watch: Beer Leader" Asia Times article Television advertisement for Taedonggang beer archived at Ghostarchive.org on 29 April, 2022