Born in the Korean countryside to a Korean mother and American father. David founded ANGMA as a way to explore and honor his Korean American identity, and educate a new market of consumers.

David was originally pulled into homebrewing almost 20 years ago. While his beer was good, it wasn’t compelling enough to initiate a life change. It wasn’t until years later, after the Marine Corps and working as a Mechanical Engineer, that a desire to connect with his Korean heritage took hold. 

Despite schooling himself on the traditional way of brewing makgeolli, and failing countless times, his engineering mind gave him the drive and patience to nail down the process. His first experiments were made with store-bought nuruk, a traditional Korean fermentation starter, from H Mart. Once he discovered the key to better makgeolli was a homemade nuruk, his makgeolli slowly evolved from being just average to impressing friends and family. “I really believe in our motto of ‘Set your own course,’ and that’s what I did.”