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| A customer looks at a bottle of whisky at the GS25 Hapjeong Premium convenience store in Seoul, on Aug. 25, 2020. Newsis |
Korea's whisky imports last year were the highest seen since 2008
By Kim Jae-heun
A 35-year-old office worker surnamed Kim recently bought a bottle of whisky to drink at home.
"I started drinking whisky from last year because there are no hangovers after drinking. For office workers like me, who have to wake up early to go to work but want to drink on weekday nights, whisky is the perfect choice," Kim said.
A 28-year-old graduate student surnamed Jung said he got into the world of whisky after trying certain brands at his friend's house party.
"I never thought about drinking whisky before I got the chance to try it with my friends during the pandemic. I realized I can purchase it at a liquor store for one-third of the price that they are sold at in bars."
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| Young people enjoy whisky at a Maker's Mark promotional event held in Seoul, June 19, 2022. Korea Times file |
Right now, there's a whisky craze in Korea.
According to the Korea Customs Service, Korea imported $247.1 million (308.4 billion won) worth of whisky last year, the highest amount since 2008.
The distilled alcoholic beverage previously was often referred to as a "drink for middle-aged men" here and it was unpopular among young customers. For a decade, whisky sales in the domestic market continued to decline. But all of a sudden, whisky sales made a rebound and started to rally sharply from 2021. Now, finding popular brand whiskies like Balvenie and Macallan at liquor stores is like getting blood out of a stone.
"As more people enjoy drinking at home, many consumers started to look for unique and luxurious alcoholic beverages," Myung Wook, a professor in the Barista & Sommelier Department at Sejong Cyber University, said. "This led to the growing popularity of single malt whisky, which has a distinctive taste and aroma."
"Also, people found out that limited edition or luxury whiskies have value just keeping them at home. Thus, many people started to purchase them even if they don't drink at all ― leading to short supplies of popular brand whiskies," the professor added.
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The lowered entry barrier for whisky is also cited as a cause of the ongoing craze for the distilled alcohol beverage.
Koreans like mixing drinks together such as "somaek," which is portmanteau of soju and beer ("maekju" in Korean). Highball, a mixed drink of whisky and soda, started to become popular among the young generation, so they became familiar with the whisky taste.
"Not only are expensive whiskies selling well, but also comparatively cheaper ones are selling as well. Many young consumers are looking for whiskies in large discount stores to make themselves highballs at home," a local retail firm official said.
The country's largest discount store, Emart, held a whisky sales promotion for two days from Jan. 6 to Jan. 7, offering popular brands such as Balvenie, Macallan, Hibiki and Yamazaki. It only took just 20 minutes from the store's opening for all of the whisky to sell out.
Emart said it held the event as the company recognized the explosive growth in the popularity of whisky. In 2022, its revenue generated by whisky jumped 30 percent year-on-year.
"We prepared 10,000 bottles of popular whiskies to attract customers. As we see whisky sales showing a sharp increase in the total proportion of all hard liquors, we will expand the lineup and hold more promotional events," an Emart official said.
Convenience stores are also considering offering a greater variety of whiskies at their stores. CU, GS25, Emart24 and Seven Eleven have started to add new whisky products to their display stands.
"Before, most of our customers only looked for common brand whiskies like Windsor or Ballantine's. However, they have recently been asking for other brands, especially single malt types. We are gradually increasing the number of whisky types to meet the needs of our customers," a BGF Retail official said.
