Brewing Love – K-drama Episode 10 Recap & Review

Episode 10

Episode 10 of Brewing Love begins with the Jisang higher-ups evaluating the new beer. The Planning Team Head, Yeom Jang-gun, points out that releasing three different types of beer doesn’t make sense since one of them is bound to do better. His employee also slyly convinces others to give the bad review and the beer fails the company’s internal assessment.

Still, Yong-ju insists on using the same beer the next day, when the Chairman will taste it. Yong-ju and her team go out to drink their sorrows. She rants about the situation and Min-ju comforts her.

The next day, the chairman tastes the beers. He likes them! But he can’t ignore the internal assessment. Min-ju then boldly says he’ll submit the beers to an international blind beer taste competition. If it wins, the company should release it.

The two of them give the rest of their team the good news. Yong-ju also realises that everybody knows she and Min-ju are dating. Sensing the tension between Ah-reum and Chan-hwi, Min-ju tells them to talk to each other.

They go for a picnic by the river where Ah-reum asks Chan-hwi why he doesn’t want to get married. But it’s a secret and he is unable to reveal it, even though he really wants to be with her. Later, Chan-hwi goes swimming and seems to get a flashback from his army days which makes him experience a panic attack. Min-ju finds him and helps him.

Apparently, Chan-hwi sent him a cryptic text that had Min-ju running. Now, Chan-hwi reveals he has a dark past and has a hard time facing it. It makes it hard to breathe and even pass out sometimes. But he wants to be able to protect Ah-reum. Min-ju counsels that there should be no male and female roles in love but it doesn’t help.

The next morning, Yong-ju surprises Min-ju by dropping by his house. After a warm meal, Min-ju asks Yong-ju why she doesn’t ask about his past. She says everyone has a dark past and she wants to focus on the present.

Elsewhere, Ah-reum and Chan-hwi meet again and he agrees to show her why he can’t get married. He takes her to a gun range where he repeatedly shoots a target. He says he always wanted to be a soldier but when he became one, he was forced to kill people.

As a consequence, he couldn’t eat properly and would get panic attacks where he couldn’t breathe. He left his family’s house so that they could eat in peace and wouldn’t worry about him. At that moment, he gets another panic attack and this time, Ah-reum holds him and tells him she still wants to be with him.

Meanwhile, Yong-ju brings Min-ju to a small party she organised with all the villagers and Min-ju’s family as well. Min-ju and his father get in a fight but Yong-ju lifts the mood up. Later, she forces the father and son to share some beer and talk to each other. Min-ju asks his father why he turned up to his mother’s funeral as a soldier and not as a father.

He admits his military uniform was the only way for him to be stable and not crumble. He also wanted to be close to his son but didn’t know how. Min-ju admits he could have been more understanding as well and they mend fences. They head back inside where everyone is drinking. Seeing Min-ju be sweet on Yong-ju, Min-ju’s stepmother tells Min-ju’s father to be more like his son.

The day of the beer competition arrives and Min-ju sends off their beer. During the award ceremony, we learn that the Yeom Jang-gun switched out the beers. But surprisingly, Uilhan Brewery wins the award! Min-ju accepts the award and then exposes Jang-gun as well. Turns out he realised the delivery man was working for Jang-gun and stopped his plan. Jang-gun storms off and the team celebrates the beer being launched!

Sometime later, just before the launch, Min-ju suddenly puts a brake on the process. He tells Yong-ju that this batch of beer will have to be dumped, leaving her shocked at the end of Brewing Love Episode 10.

The Episode Review

Brewing Love Episode 10 shows that this beer storyline has only so much potential. Despite that, the K-drama is stretching it out. The beer competition felt like an understandable stepping stone to get the beer approved and seeing Yeom Jang-gun’s plans foiled is satisfying as well. But for the episode to end on another ‘shocking’ obstacle in the path, this time from Min-ju himself feels extremely unnecessary.

The strength of the show lies in its characters and their emotions. Min-ju and Yong-ju make a very adorable couple and their discussions about the past hit the right emotional beats as well. Chan-hwi’s secret is not quite as scandalous as one would imagine, but it is nice to see Ah-reum be supportive in this sense.

Unfortunately, the episode as a whole is marked with shoddy editing, as if things were put together in a hurry. Especially near the end, the story jumps from point to point and the transitions feel abrupt. The story doesn’t have a lot of depth either, Chan-hwi’s trauma feels random considering all his pride about being from the special forces and Min-ju’s reconciliation with his father is a bit too quick as well. Nearing the end now, the series is on unsteady ground.