"Kinds of Booze in Korea" Top 5 Page for this destination South Korea Local Custom Tip by jburron

South Korea Local Customs: 271 reviews and 206 photos

The Start of a Good Night

by jburron

Of course, since everything else is different, Korea also has its own names and tastes in alcohol. For one, good luck finding snigle malt whiskey/whisky here...it's mostly blends, and mostly domestic blends, at that. A few names of drinks you'll likey see here:

Young-ju = whisky, literally means English alcohol (Korea is the #1 whisky and #2 cognac importer in all of Asia!)

Soju = Korea's vodka, strong stuff. Comes in many subtle accents and potencies. (Koreans drink 4 BILLION bottles of soju a year, that means over 1.5 bottles for every man, woman and child each week!)

Oh-ee soju = cucumber soju....yes, tastes like cucumber/pickle. Not bad stuff. Reminds me of dill pickle potato chips.

Maek-ju = beer. Lots of this here, including the 'live' kind (means draft). OB (Oriental Brewing), Hite and Cass are some of the larger makers.

Baek-say-ju = 100 year alcohol. Tastes lttle like ginsing...kind of a ladies' drink. Good.

Oh-ship-say-ju = 50 year alcohol. Not a brand, but, rather, just a 50/50 mix of soju and baek-say-ju...get it? 100 / 2 = 50 years.

Ma-kko-li = farmer's soju, Korea's oldest alcohol...looks like milk. Tastes potent, but actually usually only 6% to 8%. Interesting milky-rice taste to it.

Dong-dong-ju = new/fresh makkoli that has not been fully fermented.

Ju-ju = aka screech or moonshine in the West....about 40% alcohol or more. Tastes like gasoline, numbs your lips.

Insam-ju = real ginsing alcohol. Good with Sam-gyae-tang (ginsing chicken soup).

Mae-shil-joo = plum wine. Very sweet, the girls love it. You'll know it by the whole plums (and sometimes gold foil) in the bottle/mixture.

Seol-joong-mae = no idea...but it's good. Similar to mae-shil-joo but not as sweet. Comes in smaller bottles.

Al-leo-ay Soju = Aloe soju. Haven't tried this one yet, but I figure it's like the Aloe non-alcoholic drink--which is a thicker juice with chunks of aloe in it (actually quite refreshing).

Have fun!