The fiery concoction at issue is called “The Bomb Drink” – a less-than-delicate beverage comprised of a shot glass of whisky dumped into a brimming mug of beer, a drink commonly known elsewhere as a boilermaker.
Now there is a campaign here to discourage the concoction, which various critics have long condemned as a national scourge – a hazard to health and national productivity and a facilitator of corrupt back-room dealings.
“It’s widespread especially among politicians, government officials, businessmen, prosecutors and military officers, among the so-called leaders of society,” said Park Jin, a legislator from Seoul and a member of the opposition Grand National Party.
They are noticing little hints of a problem, like increasing DUI arrests and deaths, liver disease.
Bomb drinks have their die-hard supporters. Hwang Chang Kyu, president of the semiconductor division of Samsung Electronics, was once quoted as saying that the key to Samsung’s triumph over Japanese competitors had a lot to do with the drinking culture of Korean office workers, if not with the bomb itself.
“Unlike Japanese workers who are said to go home right after work, South Korean workers come up with various excuses to go and have a few bombs,” he reportedly said a few years ago. “Without the bomb drink, I don’t think we could have built the teamwork we have. And it’s not an exaggeration to say that we used our teamwork to offset disadvantages we had against the Japanese.”
I think he’s taking it easy on the Japanese. Anyone who’s ever survived a “business evening” in a Karaoke Bar might disagree.
What’s to be banned next? Egg in your beer?
makes me thirsty.
(thanks for the great site).
I’ve seen this for about… 6 years or so at least. Usually with Vodka. Here in the UK that’s called a Depth Charge.
I’m not a fan of beer, so I don’t drink it… I can’t say people who drink this get any more drunk than they were aiming to get in the first place though…
Depth charges – mmmm.
Here’s a good one. Most people start falling over after 3 or 4 of these.
Take a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale, take a sip out of it and stick a double Southern Comfort into it.
The best thing about it is that it tastes so innocuous that it gets drunk really quickly and the drinker is usually onto the third one before they know what’s hit them.
By the fifth they are usually crying for their mummy or talking about three stage filtering.
Dvorak – love the blog. By the way, I get no spam either, but that’s because I’m just some British guy with no friends.
I had a friend that drank a quart of Bombay Gin everyday. He was a sweet man but an alcoholic that medicated himself to death. People drink for different reasons. I find it strange that even many heavy social drinkers fails to understand an alcoholic. If you’re young and a binge drinker it’s a warning sign, especially if there’s a family history. By any definition, if you’re throwing back boiler makers thats binge drinking. Life only gets harder and temptations greater.
It won’t taste good with vodka and such, but you should instead drink Irish car bombs. Half a shot of Irish whiskey, the other half of Irish cream, then drop that into a glass of Guinness. It tastes amazing, like drinking a glass of chocolate. And it doesn’t get you drunker any faster than anything else.
I’ve had this with Korean friends. Along with a cook it yourself meal called samgyeopsal.
Makes for a fun evening.
We also had a college drink called the Joe Louis/Brown Bomber.
Dark Beer wt a shot of 15 year old rum.
The question was “How many rounds can you go wt Joe Louis?”
Served very very cold it tasted like a harmless thing…. then boom. Kind of like a depth charge eh?
🙂