It's Soju Cocktail Hour: The Watermelon Soju Cocktail

With the warm weather slowly trickling away, we thought our nights of watermelon cocktails were gone for the year. After all, out of season watermelons retail for around twenty dollars, and although these drinks are good, I shudder at the thought of $20 watermelons. So it was a nice little moment of serendipity when the fruit truck guy who parks across from our hagwon had late season fresh watermelons for 4,000 won. True to form, we turned one into cocktails. Here's how to make some of your own, should you be lucky enough to stumble across a melon.

Chunk up that watermelon.
Take out as many seeds as you can along the way.
 The melon reduces down as you blend it,
so you might need more than you think.
Eyeball it.

We added some frozen strawberries
to thicken it up.
It's optional.

Add around a teaspoon
of sugar.

Squeeze that lemon or lime.
It's going to need some zing.

Throw in a shot of soju per cocktail.
Or more, your call.

Give it all a blendaroo. Check and see if you need
more sugar or lime by taste.
If you're all good, pour it out and drink it up.
Don't you want to go make one right now?

Sister Visits Busan

Note: This guest post was written by my sister, Crystal, who visited Busan with her husband, Nick, back in March 2011. We thank her for her contribution to Soju Cocktail and for visiting way over here.

A lot has changed since we left Busan on March 14th; we found out that we are having a second baby, we traveled to Arkansas for yet another music festival and we traded our responsible family station wagon in for a “ridiculous” VW bus in which to create family memories. 

But one thing that hasn’t changed since then is how much I loved getting the invitation and opportunity to travel across the world to visit Rose & Shane. Visiting South Korea is something Nick and I would have never done if it weren’t for family being there. I’m super glad that they decided to become temporary residents in what Rose calls “The Land of Contrasts” so that we were able to enjoy all that Busan has to offer.

The contrasts Rose was talking about were instantly apparent. One of the most memorable was the obvious division between the generations of women, the younger generation obsessed with perfecting their faces while the older generation was obsessed with gutting their fish. I never encountered a young lady who didn’t have her eyeliner on to go hiking, and I rarely laid eyes on an older woman who could stand straight after squatting over a pail of fishy entrails. It wasn’t just the people that showed these contrasts, but the scene itself. The bustling city streets set itself against peaceful mountain paths in a way that kept making you forget that the other even existed. Then there were the modern technological advances surrounded by the remnants of past wars; people were taking pictures of rusted barbed wire fences with what looked like a smaller, better Ipad. It was magnificent. And it was fun.

The first night we arrived, Rose & Shane took us to a Korean BBQ. As I will most likely say about almost everything we did while in Busan, the Korean BBQ was definitely one of my favorites. The family-sized portion of meat comes to you raw and then you cook it yourself on a hot skillet or grill set in the middle of the table. When done to your liking, you wrap it in lettuce or sesame leaves and choose your other assorted toppings, like roasted garlic, kimchi, or a spicy sauce. You eat the little wrap with a nice, light, watery beer named Cass or with Soju. I liked the BBQ so much, I requested to go back at least three more times during our visit. 

The next two days were spent at temples. The first temple we visited, Beomeosa, is the temple all the traveler’s websites tell you to go to. Although impressive and large, it was nothing compared to the temple we visited next, Hae Dong Yong Gung. Hae Dong Yong Gung is set atop a rocky shoreline of the Sea of Japan. It has many multi-sized Buddhas, fresh spring water to drink, beautiful temples and scores of worshipers. It was a place to be at peace.

It was not quite so peaceful when we made the trek back in the city. We visited the busy markets in the streets and sampled different street foods. Every street was packed with hungry people looking to buy and sell goods and services.  Although they all looked exactly the same in my eyes, Shane was able to bring us to one 3x5 table that was making these crazy pancake type dishes, filled with chives and who knows what else. I will have to say, whatever they put in there, it was delish.  

One of the great things about Busan is that even though it’s a busy city, it only takes the short walk of a block to get back to peace. The city is on the shoreline, so we were able to spend some time on the beaches as well. Even when in a winter jacket, a beach is relaxing. Watching the water come in, writing messages in the sand, taking pictures with your friends to put on your next record cover, life is good when you’re on the beach.

Did I mention this was all just in the first 2 days?

It's Soju Cocktail Hour: Soju Bloody Marys

Typhoon Meari hit the Korean peninsula this Sunday morning, leaving our prospects of hitting up the beach bleak. The rain wouldn't relent, so we relented and cozied up with some fine homemade Bloody Marys from fresh summer tomatoes. Here's how you can make some of your own to ride out the storm.

Step One: 
Chop some fresh tomatoes into chunks, and drizzle a bit of olive oil over them. Season with some salt and pepper. Roast in your toaster oven until the tomato looks soft and delicious. Don't overdo it too much; ten to fifteen minutes is all you need. If you want to skip the hassle, use tomato juice, but I would recommend V8 from Costco if you're in Korea-- Korean tomato juice is really sweet. If you want to try Korean tomato juice, no worries, just add extra salt.

Step Two: 
Throw your roasted tomatoes into a blender. I use one medium to large tomato for each small drink you want to serve. Add hot sauce to taste and a dash of Worcestershire sauce. Blend it all up nice and good. Check your consistency; if your Bloody Mary mix so far is really thick like tomato sauce, add a splash or two of water. Don't add too much, you've still got the soju that is going to thin it down as well.

Step Three: 
Strain your concoction. No one wants to be drinking seeds and tomato skins in their cocktail.












Step Four:
Pour your mix into a glass full of ice. Add a shot of soju. I chose the brand Cool 168 (so named because it contains 16.8% ABV) that we found at Mega Mart because it looked like a fun bottle. A lot of people prefer to shake this cocktail instead of stir, so go right on ahead if you've got the equipment. Otherwise, give it a swizzle around.

Step Five: Garnish that bad boy! Squeeze in some lemon juice, add olives, pickles, or whatever other tiny veggies you've got. Then taste test. If it needs it, feel free to season further with salt, pepper, hot sauce, or herbs like rosemary or basil.






Now, drink up! You've worked hard to create this delectable work of art, so enjoy. 
May all your typhoons pass quickly. 

Stoked to Get Soaked: Making Infused Soju

Get Soaked...

So, the name of our blog is Soju Cocktail, and we haven’t gone into depth about drinking the cheap stuff, so here goes nothing.

Soju is tons cheap and easily mixable. A sixteen ounce bottle of 20% ABV liquor comes to you for about $1. It doesn’t have a strong taste, but it doesn’t go down the greatest of ease. We have come up with a solution that is a little bit sac-religious to the older Korean

generation. Soaked soju!

This can be done for any liquor, and we have done it to many. Gin, rum, vodka, even whisky. Being in Korea, we’re steeping soju, and you can to.

Step one, get yourself some oranges (or lemons, or grapefruit, or limes) and take the skins off.

Step two, remove any bit of white pith from the very outermost layer of the orange peel. The skin of any citrus has an amazing amount of flavor without the sourness, and without the bitterness of pith. If you leave pith on the skin you will have bitter, gross soaked soju, and no one wants that. What you're left with should only be the bright colored part of the skin.

(further note) I like to leave the skins in as large of pieces as I can, so its easier to strain out later.

Step three, jam those skins down inside a big old bottle of booze. 

Go ahead and eat the orange slices, they don't do much good in the booze, the money comes from the skins. The essential oils make the difference. 

Step four, screw the cap back on the bottle, and give it a shake.       

Step five, leave it alone.                                          Keep it wherever, someplace without a lot of temperature changes is best. Some liquor makers say no sunlight, some say sunlight can only help you. I say, put it wherever you got the room to put it. Once a week give it another shake. You'll see the color start to change after a week, but it gets better the longer you wait. You can wait as little as one week, but my suggestion is to wait at least a month.

Lastly, chill and serve. This makes a very good shot on its own, or mix it with your favorite mixer. For us, it’s Apple Demi Soda, or some sort of white soda. Try it at home with whatever you’d like, and enjoy the cheap stuff even more than before.

It's Soju Cocktail Hour: The So-milk

Lighter and just a tad sweeter than vodka, rice-based soju lends itself well to mixing. Koreans usually drink soju solo, taking shots of it over a long, social meal. Sometimes, locals drop a soju shot into a glass of beer, creating what they call a so-mek. So for soju; mek for mekju, the Korean word for beer. Shane's drank a couple at the invitation of our school's head honcho. 


I have a weak stomach, not able to take it straight up. This reality, combined with soju's ridiculous inexpensiveness (about $1.00 for a sixteen ounce bottle), has led us to some sweet soju experimentation that we'll share with you in a series of posts. 


Straight from our kitchen, soju cocktail recipe number one:

The So-milk

 soju + Milkis soda

    and        add up to

This cocktail is a great choice for folks who like to drink, but don't like the taste of alcohol, as the soda covers the soju's taste. Simple but deliciosa. Creamy but packing a punch. I could drink this for days, especially sweltering summer days on the beach. Can't wait for those.