The General Sherman sails again

[An update is here.]

Here is a photo of the USS Princess Royal, taken from this Wikipedia entry. Strangely enough, it doesn't mention that after it was renamed the General Sherman and turned into a merchant ship, it was sunk on the Taedonggang, the river that flows through Pyongyang, in 1866 (as the entry on that incident relates). Worth remembering, of course, is that North Korean historians claim an ancestor of Kim Il-sung was the leader of those burned the ship.


Here is the beer cap from a bottle of Taedonggang beer, made in North Korea. Notice any similarities?


The General Sherman is literally on the Taedonggang. Subtle, yet it gets the point across. Does Taedonggang have the honor of being the world's only anti-American beer? Besides Molson Canadian, I mean?

I was reminded of the beer cap after reading this post at DPRK Studies about Taedonggang beer, which mentions that it's no longer available in South Korea. It's possible that the beer made for export (in a 500 ml bottle at 5%) was better than the domestic stuff. I drank the beer made for export two or three times, but also drank a bottle of the domestic stuff a friend brought back from Kaesong (which comes in a 650 ml bottle at 4%, and is seen in the brewery photos at DPRK Studies) and the latter did not compare favorably with the former.