Spring brings shepherd’s purse. Summer, plum. Autumn, wild chrysanthemum. Winter, dosoju. One brewery. Four seasons. Four different bottles.
If wine has vintages, Korean traditional liquor has seasonal brews — sesiju (歲時酒). Spirits made each year from whatever the season offers. Same name, different taste every year. This year’s plums are not last year’s plums. This year’s nuruk is not last year’s nuruk.
Bae Sang Myeon Jugga carries this tradition across all four seasons. Each release is brewed in limited quantities at their Pocheon, Gyeonggi-do brewery — the same place, the same water, the same nuruk that produces Neurin Maeul Makgeolli. Only the season changes.
It is summer now. Maesil Miju season.
What’s in the Bottle
Maesil Miju is exactly what the name says — a beautiful liquor (miju, 美酒) brewed with plum (maesil). The base is Neurin Maeul Soju, a distillate made from the brewery’s own makgeolli, with plum added to produce a refined yakju.
700ml. 12% ABV. Served cold, the plum’s tartness leads — bright and clean, with the natural sweetness of rice quietly supporting from behind. This is not the syrupy plum wine most people expect. It’s precise. The finish is dry and clear.
Limited by Design
The sesiju series is produced in a quantity that matches the year’s number. 2026 means 2,026 bottles. No more.
Available through Homesool (homesool.com) and across 39 Neurin Maeul brewery locations nationwide — but each season sells out quickly. When it’s gone, it’s gone until next summer.
That limitation is intentional. A seasonal brew that’s always available isn’t really seasonal.
The Four Seasons Series
What makes the sesiju series interesting isn’t any single bottle. It’s the idea behind all four.
Shepherd’s purse in spring. Plum in summer. Wild chrysanthemum in autumn. Dosoju in winter. The same brewery, the same foundation, rotating through what each season makes possible. Korean traditional liquor has always worked this way — tied to the land, to the harvest, to the time of year. Bae Sang Myeon Jugga is simply making that visible.
Drinking Maesil Miju in July isn’t just about the taste. It’s about drinking the right thing at the right time — a small act of alignment with the season that most modern consumption quietly eliminates.
Editor’s Note
There’s something quietly radical about a product that refuses to be available all year. The sesiju series doesn’t ask you to stock up or plan ahead — it asks you to pay attention to when you are. Summer is short. Plum season is shorter. The bottle makes that legible in a way that a supermarket shelf never could
| Brand | Bae Sang Myeon Jugga | Product | Maesil Miju | Volume | 700ml | ABV | 12% | Category | Yakju | Ingredients | Gyeonggi-do rice · Plum · Nuruk | Base | Neurin Maeul Soju | Limited | Year number in bottles | Where to Buy | homesool.com | 39 Neurin Maeul locations nationwide
