Weizen vs pilsner at a Seomyeon window-seat pub in Busan: Craft Hans

My friend and I decided to have a proper drink in Seomyeon, so we went looking for a good spot with a nice vibe for drinking and ended up at Craft Hans Seomyeon Branch.

Where is Craft Hans Seomyeon Branch, and what are its hours?

Craft Hans Seomyeon Branch is at 24 Dongcheon-ro 95beon-gil, Busanjin-gu, Busan, South Korea, on the 2nd floor above Mokgumeong. It's open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday from 5pm to 2am, and Friday/Saturday from 4pm to 3am. Group seating and reservations are both available.

There's a menu board posted right by the passage to the right of Mokgumeong on the 1st floor. You just head up these stairs through the right-hand passage.

Saturday at 6pm: the window seat and baseball on the screen

The screen at Craft Hans Seomyeon Branch was showing a baseball game in full swing. You can see it well from every seat, so it'd be perfect to visit during baseball season. My friend and I came around 6pm on a Saturday, and there were already several groups there — some finishing up and leaving too. One whole side is a full window wall, making it a bright and pleasant spot for day drinking.

They actually pour the craft beer straight from taps! Not just for show!

Neon signs scattered around really set the mood. From opening at 4pm through summer daylight around 7pm, it has that bright day-drinking feel, and once it starts getting dark, the texture of the wood and brick walls combined with the neon gives off a 1970s Western vibe.

Here's the menu — honestly, at these prices in the middle of Seomyeon's Manchwi-ro, they must be doing great business.

While waiting, the ggeonppang (dry hardtack biscuits) sucked all the moisture right out of my body,

and the beer that showed up the second we ordered — ahh~~~ this is exactly what the ggeonppang was for, right?

Weizen or pilsner: which beer tasted better?

Of the two glasses we ordered at Craft Hans Seomyeon Branch, the one on the left is weizen and the right is pilsner. The weizen was sweet and delicious. The pilsner is a lager, but since it's naturally hop-forward, it had a strong bitter edge. I recommend the weizen haha (it's also perfect for somaek, the soju-beer mix, haha).

I was sad Craft Hans didn't have any ppalttu (a fruit-flavored soju), but honestly Seomyeon in general seems short on it these days. Without it, we just drank Chamisul, which wasn't that tasty. Instead I'd recommend Jinro Zero Sugar.

Fries and crispy chicken for 15,900 won

The fries were so crispy that my hand kept reaching for more~~ This isn't some weird in-between fries taste — it's exactly the fries flavor we all love. The beer came right after ordering, and the fries followed in under 10 minutes.

We ordered the crispy chicken too, and it also didn't take long to arrive. You can get it for a bargain 15,900 won with the discount. The batter clings right to the meat, isn't too thick, just the right amount, with lots of meat — enough that one whole chicken would be plenty for two people to share with leftovers. (Though the trap was it was so good we finished it all anyway.) Very generous portion.

The chili sauce and honey mustard sauce we all know so well. As they say, a familiar taste is dangerous — we cleaned out the sauces and the pickled radish too.

Is Craft Hans a good spot for chimaek in Seomyeon?

This was my first drink in 6 months, and I have to say — whether or not it was the right choice to break my dry streak at Craft Hans, the drinks went down smoothly. The vibe was good too, with enough space between tables that it wasn't noisy. Lots of foreigners come here too, giving it a bit of a foreign pub feel, and with the screen always on, it felt like a neighborhood bar despite being in Seomyeon. Bottom line — it was a genuinely good spot for chimaek. Whether it's a group that looks like they came from studying, a couple, a foreign couple, or a group of guys, Craft Hans seemed like a place any group could enjoy.

Besides the fries, there were a bunch of other side dishes that looked really delicious, but my stomach had shrunk so I could only eye them without trying. Next time I do chimaek here, I definitely want to try the honey cream cheese baguette!