Stateside Sool
At Angma, Brewer-Distiller David Faulk brings traditional makgeolli and soju to Los Angeles.
photos: will blunt
Born in Korea to a Korean mother and American father, David Faulk remembers the palpable shift in how his identity was perceived when he permanently moved to the U.S. at 12 years old. In Korea, he was seen as white, while in America, growing up on military bases, he was seen as Korean. Straddling both worlds as a Korean American, Faulk founded Angma, a craft makgeolli brewery and soju distillery in Los Angeles, in 2021 as a way to explore and honor his identity and educate a new market of consumers.
Faulk’s journey started with homebrewing beer in college while studying mechanical engineering. After the first few batches, he decided he wanted to try his hand at brewing makgeolli. His first experiments were made with store-bought nuruk, a traditional Korean fermentation starter, from H Mart. Faulk quickly discovered the key to better makgeolli was a homemade nuruk. With the new starter in hand, the makgeolli slowly evolved from being just okay to impressing friends and family.
While a few different grains can be used as the base for nuruk, including rice and barley, Faulk’s is wheat-based which gives the final product a complex flavor, similar to what could be found in a wheat beer. Faulk uses California’s Koda Farms rice in the brewing process, and while many larger brands of makgeolli contain added artificial sweeteners like aspartame, Angma’s sweetness and carbonation are both naturally derived from the fermentation process. “Artificial sweetener [in makgeolli] is mainstream, but it's not traditional,” says Faulk. The brewing process takes about two weeks and, after being bottled, the makgeolli must be refrigerated. To make soju, the makgeolli is put into a still to undergo one to three distillations, with a resulting ABV of 20%.
Producing soju and makgeolli in the U.S. comes with its own set of legal difficulties. In 1998, SB 1710 was passed in California which allowed restaurants and bars that sold beer and wine to also sell soju, which was then defined as an “imported Korean alcoholic beverage.” In 2017, Assembly Bill 1046 was introduced to remove the term “imported” from the language of the law, but the bill was pulled. This law means that Faulk, who is classified as a domestic producer, can’t have his soju served at venues that serve other imported sojus. “My [soju] is considered alcohol at 20% ABV. But many commercial sojus are also 20%. As long as it's exported by Korea, it's [considered] beer and wine.” His soju is still able to be sold at liquor stores and, since makgeolli isn’t a distilled spirit, it can be sold at stores or at restaurants and bars that have a beer and wine license.
Working out of his brewery in Monrovia, Faulk produces about 100 gallons of makgeolli a month, and in a facility in Pasadena, he distills around 50 gallons of soju a month. His beverages are currently for sale online, in liquor stores across L.A., and in a few Korean restaurants—like Baroo and Yangban—but Faulk is hoping to extend his reach.
brewer david faulk
Faulk has also encountered some challenges in bridging the cultural divide when introducing his soju and makgeolli to both Korean and American audiences. “What this company is and what we're doing, there's definitely a Korean story to all of this, and there's definitely an American story too,” Faulk says. “Sometimes it feels difficult to tell the Korean-American story.”
As a country that was devastated by Japanese colonization, there’s a permeating sense of vigilance over Korean culture that Faulk says is sometimes expressed as gatekeeping. “Even getting [the product] into Korean restaurants,” he says, “is a big hurdle for us.” In the American market, there is a lack of knowledge around soju and makgeolli outside of popular brands. With Angma, Faulk tries to find the balance between honoring tradition and the makers that came before him, while educating a new audience on what differentiates small-batch soju and makgeolli.
Looking forward, Faulk is hopeful about the future of the Korean spirits sector and his role in it. Right now, he is focusing on expanding Angma’s wholesale accounts while getting ready to open a brewery and tasting room in Fullerton later this year. “I want to continue to embrace the tradition and the craft that we do,” Faulk says. “[I want to] try to make this more of a mainstream product without letting go of what I feel like are the core tenants and ideals of what we're trying to do.”
