In this study, we fermented ‘Makgeolli’ prepared using brown or white rice from ‘Mirchal’ for seven days to investigate the differences in their quality characteristics. Moreover, the physicochemical characteristics and antioxidant activities of ‘Makgeolli’ were assessed using principal component analysis (PCA). From the second day of fermentation, brown rice ‘Makgeolli’ exhibited a higher alcohol content (7.00%) than that of white rice ‘Makgeolli’ (3.60%). Additionally, the total polyphenol contents and antioxidant activities increased with the duration of fermentation (p<0.05) and were higher in brown rice ‘Makgeolli’ than those in white rice ‘Makgeolli’. Moreover, the proportion of glucose in the total free sugar content in brown rice ‘Makgeolli’ was 0.88, which was higher than that in the total free sugar content in white rice ‘Makgeolli’ (0.60). However, the levels of soluble solids, sugars, reducing sugars, and free sugars were higher in white rice ‘Makgeolli’ than those in brown rice ‘Makgeolli’. The PCA revealed that the quality characteristics of ‘Makgeolli’ prepared using brown or white rice were very distinct. Furthermore, the main contributing factor to these differences was the free sugar content. Moreover, the quality characteristics during fermentation were affected by the total acidity, polyphenol content, and alcohol content. This study provides useful data for processing ‘Makgeolli’ prepared using brown or white rice from ‘Mirchal’.