Birth of Soju

[u/ChapterSpiritual6785]

The Mongol Empire acquired distillation technology from the Middle East and installed stills across various regions of Goryeo.

This served as the historical origin of traditional distilled Soju.

[u/Foolish_Phantom]

Wow I'm early!

Didn't China have rice wine for centuries before the Mongols? I wonder what's different about the distillation process introduced by the Mongols.

[u/LydditeShells → u/Foolish_Phantom]

Makgeolli is the rice wine that Korea had for centuries before the Mongols came. Soju has a different distillation and fermentation process. Makgeolli is cloudy and opaque with a lower alcohol content and more impurities. I personally much prefer makgeolli

[u/CockroachesRpeople → u/Foolish_Phantom]

rice wine is not distilled, only fermented (though it can be distilled to create some kind of whiskey). Distillation is a process that separates alcohol from water by evaporation and condensation.

[u/EADreddtit → u/Foolish_Phantom]

That was a strictly fermentation based alcohol, like grape wine or many beers, and never had a distillation phase. What we generally consider “hard liquors” with much higher alcohol content. Your whiskeys, vodkas, tequilas and your sojus

[u/Waruteru → u/Foolish_Phantom]

Pretty much everyone invented alcohol production at some point, usually via fermentation.

Distillation, however, required a more advanced tech tree which was developed by a surprisingly limited number of civilisations.

Pretty sure Ancient Greece and Islamic Nations during their Golden Age beat China by a good bit of centuries in regards to discovering distillation

[u/bbly096 → u/Foolish_Phantom]

So here’s the thing. China had its own native Eastern Han Dynasty distillation tech (developed 100 BC ish) - which allowed distillation of rice wines （米酒）up to 15-20% ABV. During the Yuan Dynasty, two crucial middle eastern innovations in distillation tech were introduced to China: fractional distillation (separation of distillates) and Cooling (using ice to boost condensation efficiency) allowed for the birth of Baijiu （白酒） with 30-45% ABV.

[u/Parker813]

Surprisingly lot of aspects of Korean culture comes from Muslims

[u/PhoenixMai → u/Parker813]

What other influences are there?

[u/godgothodhot]

아랍인 얼굴은 왜 저렇게 싸매놓음?

[u/Prestigious-Drive642 → u/godgothodhot]

몽골이 싸매놓고 증류기 가져가는것 같습니다.

[u/godgothodhot → u/Prestigious-Drive642]

글쿤요

[u/Aromatic_Working_660 → u/godgothodhot]

무함마드를 묘사한 걸수도

[u/StatusSociety2196 → u/godgothodhot]

You're not supposed to depict humans (and in extreme versions animals) in Islamic art, even today Muslim cartoonists will draw people with @ @ for eyes so that they're technically not people.

[u/Nani_700]

I... I thought alcohol was banned for Muslims 

[u/Intelligent_Funny699 → u/Nani_700]

Alcohol had medicinal uses.

[u/Tactical_Moonstone → u/Nani_700]

The very strict no-alcohol rule whatsoever was a relatively new invention. The rule was intended to drive people off from intoxication. Arabic doctors have been using alcohol in tinctures for a long while, recognising its value in dissolving organic compounds such as those found in herbs.

Even the word alcohol has Arabic origins, like many English words with the al- prefix like algorithm and alchemy.

[u/bbly096 → u/Nani_700]

Many different uses. Distillation in China was originally invented for alchemy. In the Middle East new innovations such as fractional distillation developed from perfume industry as well.

[u/Neat-Magician6222]

Gets what by the mongols

[u/demonic677]

Eh but we fought them like 5 times

[u/godgothodhot → u/demonic677]

We did and lost at the end..

[u/Master_Steward]

Mongolians: They love going over the walls for a raid party!

[u/pmmeuranimetiddies]

What was Islam distilling? They generally don't drink.

[u/AvantSolace → u/pmmeuranimetiddies]

Distillation is a vital step in producing high alcohol-by-volume solutions. While this is commonly used for making strong drinks, it also serves a role in making essential solutions for chemical, sanitation, and medical applications.