Bangkok bar owner fined THB10,000 for preparing Japanese plum wine

A Bangkok Bar owner was making Japanese plum wine Friday evening when two officers walked in and charged him with two crimes: making changes to liquor and its packaging.

Pasakorn “Thep” Sangraksakiat said yesterday that he was fined THB10,000 (US$300) for making umeshu, aka Japanese plum wine, at his bar PrumPlum in Bangkok’s Sathorn area. 

“My store was closed that day, and I and some staffers were making umeshu out of a lot of plums before they went to waste,” Pasakorn said in an online discussion with a community of Thai liquor producers called Surathai. 

“Then the excise authorities came in and asked for our alcohol license, which was no problem. But then they saw the umeshu jars and asked me, ‘What is this?’ Even though I told them I wasn’t making it for sale at the bar, the authorities told me that I made too many jars and charged…