This guide dives into Korea’s rich drinking culture beyond the ubiquitous soju, exploring traditional spirits, cloudy rice wines, beer cocktails, craft maekju, herbal yakju, and fruit-based wines like maesil-ju and bokbunja-ju. It explains flavours, alcohol levels, regional twists, and ideal food pairings, showing how each drink fits into everyday rituals and special occasions.
Ask most people to name a Korean alcoholic drink and you'll get one answer: soju. Fair enough, it's the green bottle on every table at every Korean restaurant from Seoul to your neighbourhood K-BBQ spot (and in K-dramas, duh!)
But limiting your Korean drinking education to soju is like judging Italian food by breadsticks alone. Or Indian food to butter chicken. Korea's drinking culture runs deep: milky rice wines, herbal liquors that double as folk remedies, a genuine craft beer scene, and fruit wines you won't find on a Western wine list.
That said, here's your complete guide to Korean alcoholic drinks, what they taste like, and what to eat (and drink) them with.
Of course, this is the default order and for good reason. Commercial soju (Chamisul, Chum Churum, Jinro) sits in the 16 to 25% ABV range, clean and neutral by design so it doesn't fight the food. Skip the fruit-flavoured versions; peach and grape soju are largely made for export and aren't the local go-to. For something with more character, look for traditional distilled soju like Hwayo or Munbaeju, a pear-scented spirit that, oddly, contains no actual pears.
Best paired with: Samgyeopsal, kimchi jjigae, spicy stir-fries... it's versatile. Drink chilled from small shot glasses, and pour for others before yourself.
Korea's oldest alcoholic drink, and its strangest-looking: cloudy, faintly fizzy, with sediment at the bottom you shake gently (not champagne-style) before pouring. ABV runs low, around 6 to 8%, and the flavour lands somewhere between tart lemonade and a light yogurt smoothie. Regional versions get creative fast: chestnut makgeolli in Gongju, peanut makgeolli on Jeju's Udo Island.
Best paired with: Pajeon (a near-mandatory rainy-day pairing). Shake gently to remix the sediment before pouring, and drink it cold.
Maekju is basically korean beer. Cass, Hite, and Terra are the beginner brands (and safe bets) to check out in this category. Regulatory changes in the early 2010s opened the door to independent breweries making IPAs, stouts, and lagers brewed with local ingredients like yuzu and omija berry, many of them available at convenience stores.
Best paired with: Chimaek (fried chicken and beer), served cold, straight from the bottle or poured, no ceremony required.
Not a separate drink so much as a Korean ritual: soju mixed with beer, typically at a 3:7 ratio, sometimes stirred with a flourish for extra fizz. Ratios get debated at the table with real seriousness.
Best paired with: pub food. In fact with fried anything, mixed tableside on the spot, with the stir itself is half the fun.
The most overlooked category on this list, clear rice wines usually sit somewhere between sake and a dry white wine: floral, gently herbal, ABV in the 12 to 18% range depending on the brand. Baekseju, infused with ginseng, cinnamon, and licorice root, is the one you'll see most often, and it goes down deceptively easily.
Best paired with: Light seafood, steamed dishes, namul (seasoned vegetables).
This is plum wine made by steeping plums in soju for months until it turns golden and mellows into something gently tart and lightly sweet. Many Korean households make a batch every summer when plums are in season.
Best paired with: Just have it chilled, neat or over ice.
A deep red wine made from Korean black raspberries, sweet-tart and richer in body than most fruit wines, sitting around 15 to 19% ABV. Its name translates loosely to "the fruit that overturns a chamber pot," a nod to old folk claims about its effects. It's also shown up at genuinely formal occasions, including the 2005 APEC summit dinner.
Best paired with: Nothing specific, though at 15 to 19% ABV, small glasses are the smart call. Drink chilled, sipped rather than shot.