What’s with the booze here?

Koreans are known for their hard drinking habits, but why oh why can’t you buy any decent booze here – it’s enough to make you go tee-total! Sure, they’ve got beer and Soju, a drink made from fermented potatoes or rice, dependant on the price, a bit like watered down vodka, but it’s not the same. Go into a bar, and you can’t buy a single measure of whisky or brandy – you have to buy a whole bottle, they then mark this up for you and hold it behind the bar for your next visit. I guess it’s good marketing for the bar, and at least ensures repeat business until the bottle is empty, but the initial outlay is a hefty whack. You can buy wine at the supermarkets, anything from a 5GBP bottle of new world wine to a French Chablis at around 40GBP, Johnny Walker gut-rot whisky (It’s gut rot, coz I know where it’s bottled – Kilmarnock!) and some unknown makes like Whisky Blue and some other sweet sickly concoctions. Brandy can be bought here, but holy cow! you pay the price! A normal 70cl bottle of Hennesey, will set you back the best part of 40GBP! Visitors please note: Famous Grouse Scotch Whisky and Courvoisier Brandy duty free please!