North Ko-beer! The Wiltshire brewery bought for £1.5 million in 2000 and shipped piece by piece to Pyongyang is hailed by Kim Jong Un’s regime ‘for contributing to national economic development’
- Taedonggang Beer Factory was bought in 2000 by North Korea’s government
A Wiltshire brewery shipped piece by piece to Pyongyang has been hailed for its success by Kim Jong Un’s regime.
The Taedonggang Beer Factory, which opened in the North Korean capital 21 years ago, was commended for its contribution to the ‘five-year plan for national economic development’ – alongside other firms including a pharmaceutical factory.
The brewery had been situated in Wiltshire and was owned by Ushers, a specialist in regional bitters, The Telegraph reported.
It was bought for £1.5million in the year 2000 by North Korea’s government, which deconstructed the historic property and shipped it to Pyongyang to be rebuilt.
The sale of the brewery could only go ahead after the British government received confirmation that the machinery could not be adapted to create chemical weapons.
The Taedonggang Beer Factory, which opened in the North Korean capital 21 years ago, had been situated in Wiltshire and was bought for £1.5million in 2000 by North Korea’s government
The Wiltshire brewery, previously owned by Ushers, was sold, deconstructed and shipped to Pyongyang to be rebuilt
Meanwhile, a delegation of North Koreans travelled to the UK for several months of training by brewer Gary Todd.
Mr Todd, who was the head brewer at the factory until it shut, said: ‘I had to effectively give them the crash course in brewing and we spent a lot of time going over the basics, but it seems that they got it because they are up and running there now.’
The brewer added that he was able to assess the brewery’s progress a few years ago, when a British journalist gave him a bottle of beer after a trip to North Korea.
Mr Todd said: ‘I would have to say that I was pleasantly surprised because I was not sure what they were using for their brewing materials.
‘The flavour was pretty good, it was quite nice.’
The brewery’s beers are stronger than most of those produced in East Asia, with an alcohol content of 5.7 per cent.
A waitress draws a jug of beer to serve before the opening of the Pyongyang Taedonggang Beer Festival in August 2016
The brewery’s beers are stronger than most of those produced in East Asia, with an alcohol content of 5.7 per cent
The Taedonggang Beer Factory celebrated 20 years of operations in July 2022.
It was reported at the time that it had been ‘built under the care of chairman Kim Jong-il’, who was the leader of North Korea when the factory’s reconstruction started.
He was believed to have chosen the location for the brewery on the banks of the Taedong River.
After Kim passed away in 2011, his son and heir Kim Jong-un has been a keen supporter of the factory.
He visited the brewery on multiple occasions to ‘encourage its officials and workers to further improve the flavour and quality of the beer and thus exalt the honour of the factory as one popular among the people’.
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