North Korean beverage producer Taedonggang Foodstuff Factory has reportedly been working on improving a famous Korean ginseng booze for years, making the drink hangover-free for drinkers, reported The Guardian on Monday.
The company allegedly substituted sugar with scorched glutinous rice, which aids in eliminating both the bitter taste of the booze, as well as the hangover that goes with it after consuming the drink.
"Koryo Liquor, which is made of six-year-old Kaesong Koryo insam [ginseng], known as being highest in medicinal effect, and the scorched rice, is highly appreciated by experts and lovers as it is suave and causes no hangover," an article in the DPRK's Pyongyang Times claimed.
According to Evening Standard on Tuesday, the Koryo Songgyungwan University in North Korea also attempted to improve the quality of Kaesong Koryo Insam Liquor last August.
"I haven't tried that brand I think, though I have had some other Insam liquors," noted Andray Abrahamian from the Chosong Exchange group that supports North Korean business. "They're OK - I associate ginseng with its medicinal properties, though, so am not that keen on it as a tasty treat."
"There are some high quality liquors made in North Korea, though in my experience there is no such thing as hangover-free booze anywhere in the world," he added.
Apparently, North Korea is not the only country that aims to battle hangover to help drinkers wake up on the right side of the bed after a night of merriment.
In Jan. 22, 2015, Telegraph reported that David Nutt, a neuropsychopharmacology professor at the Imperial College, developed two new drugs that allow people to feel the buzz of the alcohol without the hangover.
The first drug, known as the "alcosynth," is a non-toxic inebriant that does not result to hangovers, aggression, loss of control and even liver toxicity. The second drug is known as the "chaperone" and it reduces the effects of the booze, making it almost impossible to become drunk while drinking alcohol.
"We are incapable of killing alcohol's allure," Nutt warns. "This is a battle we cannot win."
