Best bars in Gangnam

“We don't want to be the only beer you drink; we just want to be the best beer you drink” — it’s such a self-confident slogan, and we’re feeling it. The beers offered at Goose Island Brewhouse which opened in Yeoksam-dong last month are simply heavenly, letting us almost forget about the high price tags that come with them. At the moment, the menu includes 5 types of drafts, 12 types of bottles and a few non-Goose Island draft beers (mostly from Elysian Brewing Company and Blue Point Brewing Company, both of which are subsidiaries of Anheuser-Busch). There are also beer cocktails and spirits. The food menu (priced at 15,000 won – 23,000 won, except for steaks) includes mac & cheese, beer-battered fried calamari, beef tartare, smoked chicken wings and salads. They’re all no-frills, with quite generous portions. As for space, the brewhouse has a rooftop area and a reservation-only “barrel room,” on top of two spacious floors with table and bar seatings. One of the drafts that are currently available is Goose IPA (5.9% ABV), which is pretty light with subtle fruity notes. There’s nothing insane about it and that’s a great thing, in this case of overall well-balanced beer. If you’re into farmhouse ales, you should go for Sofie (6.5% ABV). Aged in wine barrels with citrus peels, it’s got an almost blissful aroma of elderflower with a hint of coriander and a subtle note of vanilla to finish. Sour, sweet and spicy without any domineering flavor, it’s such a deliciously gentle...

In the late nineties, if you ever saw a jazz bar scene in a Korean soap, it was most likely shot at Once in a Blue Moon. When it opened in 1998, the jazz scene was just getting started and this was THE jazz spot in Seoul. The three story venue is spacious and you’ll see a diverse clientele: people on dates, groups of friends, and business people taking out clients, as well as the odd jazz aficionado here and there. Jazz clubs have not had it easy in Seoul—many of them close after a short while, and those that have managed to survive are usually quite small, so Once in a Blue Moon is special in that regard. Even better, they have live jazz every night, staging regular performances of Korean jazz musicians and hosting international acts on occasion, including Laura Fygi, Chuck Mangione, Wynton Marsalis and Roby Lakatos. Keep in mind, entrance is free but drinks are pricey.

Modern, chic, divey and posh are some adjectives used to described bars, but “cute?” Can you ever describe a bar as being “cute?” It was definitely not an adjective I would have used before going to the new Mikkeller Bar in Garosugil. Known for ”gypsy brewing,” a kind of outsourcing that results in low overhead and experimental, one-off brews, the originally Danish brand “Mikkeller” has a reputation that precedes them. Founded by high school teacher Mikkel Borg Bjergsø and journalist Kristian Klarup Keller in 2006, they wanted to “challenge beer friends with intense new tastes.” Some of that is reflected in their colorful chalkboard menu that changes every day and a menu that dozens of fans (many of them visitors to the first Asian Mikkeller branch in Bangkok or just beer fanatics) lined up for on opening day this past June 27. When you hear the names of the beers that people are drinking, it might make you chuckle. Beers here are served in wine glasses and have witty titles like “Henry Jagger,” “Orange Yuzu Glad Said I Was Porter” and “Taedonggang,” a reference to something former Economist writer Daniel Tudor once said about North Korean beer: “[South] Korean beer isn’t tasty… and the North’s Taedonggang Beer … tastes surprisingly good.” Mikkeller’s Taedonggang, which plans to stick around for a while, is a classic pale ale with a light and fresh finish. Be on the lookout for the “Spontan” series if the hard-to-find sour is your flavor and fear not if you don’t even know...