North Korea has heaped some top economic development honors on a nearly 200-year-old brewery that spent its first 175 years in Trowbridge, England.
The brewery was bought in 2000 by the North Korean government, which had it dismantled brick by brick and shipped, along with its machinery and 20,000 beer kegs, to Pyongyang, where it was rebuilt. The deal involved a crew of North Koreans who traveled to England for several months of training by the brewery’s head br
According to North Korea, the brewery uses water from the natural springs in the Milim district of Pyongyang, as well as barley and hops that are grown domestically. With an alcohol content of 5.7 per cent, its beers are stronger than the majority of those produced in East Asia. Its recognition as a leading enterprise this week by Pyongyang cited the brewery’s “production and management on a new scientific basis”. The Taedonggang Beer Factory marked 20 years of operations in July last year.
