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Fermentation Atlas

Alcoholic drinks from Korea

Gwaha-ju ("summer-passing wine")과하주

Gwaha-ju, "the wine that passes the summer", is a Korean rice wine made to keep through the hot season. In the Seoul style, distilled soju is poured into a fermenting yakju (clear rice wine), which raises its strength to about 18–23 % so that it keeps; the Gimcheon style instead brews the wine sweet and thick. It is a honyangju, a drink that mixes brewing and distilling. Made in 4 steps over 12 days – 19 days. The longest step, finish fermenting and mature, takes 12 days (Choi S.-W 2026).

Key numbers
Main step12 daysReported[choi2026]Finish fermenting and mature
AciditypH 4–4.1Measured[choo2023]Finish fermenting and mature

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedHistorical recipes differ; a 2026 study compared 128 old recipes but published no single set of amounts in its abstract, so no batch size is given here.
Rice[bae2006]
Nuruk made from wheat flour (bungok) · The fine flour nuruk was the kind used for yakju and gwaha-ju[bae2006]
Distilled soju · Added during fermentation; some versions use soju infused with herbs such as Lithospermum root (jicho)[bae2006][choi2026]
Starter: koji/qu/mold-starter: wheat nuruk

Total time across the recorded steps: 12 days – 19 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: Steamed rice, crumbled nuruk and water go into the crock

Step 1 of 4
Mix steamed rice, nuruk and water
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Moulds
Yeasts

Output: rice wine mash.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

Gwaha-ju is yakju strengthened with distilled soju during fermentation, so it is both brewed and distilled. Plain yakju is only brewed; unsterilised yakju turned too sour to drink after about 23 days at 25 °C in one shelf-life study.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Seoul-style gwaha-juYakju mixed with soju to raise its strength.
  • Gimcheon-style gwaha-juBrewed sweet and thick so that it lasts the summer.
  • Jicho-gwaha-juMade with soju infused with Lithospermum erythrorhizon root, which turns it red and adds polyphenols.

Safety

No safety limits specific to gwaha-ju were found. The added spirit and the high alcohol help it keep through hot weather.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Gwaha-ju and hapju appeared in the late Joseon period, adding honyangju (mixed brewed and distilled drinks) to Korea's takju, yakju and soju. Fine wheat-flour nuruk was made specially for yakju and gwaha-ju.

  1. [bae2006] Bae Young-ho (배영호) 2006, 한국 전통주의 문화 (The culture of Korean traditional liquor), conference proceedings paper, Baesangmyeon Brewerypaper
  2. [choi2026] Choi S.-W., Jin S.-Y. 2026, Quality characteristics of jicho-gwahaju (Korean traditional fortified rice wine) according to the addition timing of Lithospermum erythrorhizon-infused distilled spirit, Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life 36(3):179 (abstract)paper
  3. [choo2023] Choo E.-J., Jin S.-Y. 2023, Quality characteristics of gwahaju (Korean traditional fortified rice wine) prepared with different amounts of red-fleshed dragon fruit powder, Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life 33(5):405 (abstract)paper
  4. [mok1997] Mok C., Lee J.-Y., Chang H.-G. 1997, Quality changes of non-sterilized yakju (rice wine) during storage and its shelf-life estimation, Food Engineering Progress 1(3):192 (abstract)paper
  5. [WP:Makgeolli] Wikipedia, Makgeolli, name (outline only)wiki