Big Rock in Seoul

There are constant rumours of a Tim Hortons invasion of Seoul. They start in the legitimate way of "I heard it from my friend of a friend whose cousin's friend's Korean friend who lived in Vancouver found a Tim Hortons in Apujeong" sort of way. They never pan out and they never die among the Canadian ex-pats. A few months ago I heard a similar tease of a rumour about Big Rock Brewery opening a pub in Kangnam.

This one held a bit more truth to it as my friend had been there but she had no idea where it was exactly. Her directions went something like this, "go out exit 7 at Kangnam Station and then it's in the area behind there." Kangnam is another downtown of Seoul and so "the area behind there" tends to large. Luckily Saejin and I walked up one smaller road behind the Starbucks and seconds later found the place.

When we walked in there was one side where the Korean staff sat the vociferous foreigners while the other side was soaked in Koreans. There were a few unneeded Canadian flags on and around the bar for decoration. On the wall where the Koreans drank a huge Alberta Flag obnoxiously hanged in between a cardboard cutout Mountie and a cowboy riding a spastic horse. Ignoring all the western crap that keeps Alberta behind I studied the menu and found the history of my drinking life in front of my eyes, from Grade 12's Warthog to Grasshopper and University life to the post Uni. delicacy of Traditional.



They have a sampler menu where they serve up all the kinds of beer in baby training mugs.



It was a great reunion with these Calgary staples. We didn't stay all that long but will definitely be back to sample some more soon.