Near West Side brewery brings locally made makgeolli to Chicago

A new brewery on Chicago’s Near West Side is adding a Korean tradition to the city’s locally made drinks. Yido Brews produces makgeolli, an unfiltered rice wine fermented with a starter culture, and its flagship White Tiger bottle is available at Chicago retailers.

Founder Peter Quinn Woo Chung was born and raised in the Chicago area. He developed an appreciation for makgeolli while spending 2018 to 2019 in Seoul on a postgraduate fellowship. Visits to a makgeolli bar introduced him to a wide range of regional styles, with different flavors, sweetness levels and degrees of fizz. In Korea, the drink is traditionally paired with scallion pancakes, known as pajeon, on rainy days.

After returning to Chicago, Chung began making his own batches at home. The basic process combines steamed rice, water and nuruk, a fermentation starter. Getting a consistent result required close attention to temperature, ingredient proportions and the way the rice was steamed and cooled. Chung said it took about three years of experimentation to develop a batch he could reliably reproduce.

White Tiger is somewhat sweet, with a milky texture that Chung describes as relatively light. Makgeolli more broadly can have creamy, tart, sweet and fruity qualities. The drink has a history stretching back thousands of years, and South Korea has more than 760 licensed breweries making over 2,000 varieties.

Yido joins a small but growing group of U.S. makgeolli producers. Breweries have opened in states including California, Maryland and Washington, alongside New York City’s Hana Makgeolli, which opened in 2020. For Chicago readers interested in local food and drink makers, Yido offers a connection between that expanding craft industry and a founder’s hometown roots.

Chung obtained space for the business in July and prepared it for production, including waterproofing floors and securing licenses. In October, he left his coordinator position at Sierra Club Illinois to focus on brewing full time. The name Yido is shortened from a Korean phrase meaning Second City, a reference to Chicago.

For now, retail distribution is the way to find Yido’s makgeolli. The notes do not identify individual stores or provide visiting hours for the production space. Chung’s longer-term goal is a brewpub where people can gather, but that remains a future plan rather than an announced opening.