Magpie Brewing Co. — Brewery & Taproom

Magpie was started in Seoul in 2011 by four friends in Itaewon's Gyeongnidan, opened its first tiny brewshop there in 2012 with a single pale ale on tap, and is widely credited with kick-starting Korea's craft beer boom. In 2016 it moved production to Jeju, converting an abandoned 1970s tangerine warehouse on the north side of the island into a working brewery, and every drop sold across Korea and abroad is now brewed here with clean, basalt-filtered island water.

The taproom pours the beer steps from where it is made. The core Pale Ale (4.8%), IPA (6.5%), Kölsch (4.8%) and Porter (5.6%) are always on, alongside taproom-exclusive seasonals; Magpie releases at least three new beers each season and likes local ingredients such as Jeju tangerine peel. Look out for The Ghost, a tangerine gose named Champion Beer of Asia at SEA Brew 2019; the brewery also says it made Korea's first sour beer.

Brewery tours run about 30–40 minutes, finish with a tasting and leave free time in the taproom afterwards. The brewery's site lists weekday tours at 6pm and weekend tours at 1pm, 2pm, 4pm and 6pm, at ₩20,000 a head, plus a seated 40-minute tasting class of eight beers on Wednesday to Friday afternoons for up to six people. Book through Naver, or email for English-language tours. Tasting is for over-19s, but minors can join with a guardian.

You do not need a tour to visit: the taproom is open to everyone from noon to 8pm, Wednesday to Sunday, closed Mondays and Tuesdays and closing early on the first Wednesday of each month. It is a short taxi from central Jeju City, around ₩10,000–15,000 each way, and the picnic tables on the lava-gravel terrace are the place to sit. It also takes private events of 50 to 150 people. Magpie's Tapdong seafront bar in Jeju City is the place to continue into the evening.