Jeong Mi-hee, a South Korean businessperson, used to buy a lot of whisky in airports. When the coronavirus pandemic brought her travels to halt, she started paying more attention to local booze she had overlooked.
The best drink she found was makgeolli, a cloudy Korean rice wine with a slightly sour taste. Jeong liked it so much that, after studying ancient fermentation techniques with a master brewer, she decided to start her own label.
"My makgeolli life started with corona!” Jeong, 41, said recently at a Seoul liquor store dedicated to traditional Korean alcohol.