Are you sipping soju, South Korea’s favourite spirit?
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
It’s the world’s bestselling spirit brand, but you wouldn’t be alone if you haven’t heard of Jinro – because sales of this Korean soju were, until very recently, almost entirely domestic. But with the boom in all things Korean – K-pop, kimchi, Korean skincare, Squid Game – its signature green-glass bottles are popping up in cocktail bars and supermarkets the world over.
Soju is a white spirit that comes in a range of styles, but it’s traditionally distilled from grain (Jinro’s recipe is a mix of rice, barley, sweet potato and tapioca; Jinro Soju Chamisul Classic, £8.50 for 350ml, souschef.co.uk). Big commercial brands are distilled to a very high strength and diluted to around 12 to 25 per cent abv; they’re also often sweetened, resulting in a spirit that tastes like an easy-drinking version of vodka.
A half-size bottle of soju in Korea can cost as little as $1; it’s usually enjoyed with food and beer. Sharing a bottle with friends is a time-honoured ritual. “If you want to make friends in Korea then you need to have a soju with them,” says Lee Seong-ha, a bar consultant based in Seoul. “The green bottle is part of our culture and our life. And the rituals are really important – we say ‘cheers’ every single time.”
Soju has a rich tradition of drinking games. And there’s also a lot of show-boating when it comes to serving it, with the best bottle flippers and spinners amassing big social media followings. New York bar owner and “master soju swirler” Irene Yoo (@yooeating) shares tutorials on creating soju “splashes” and “tornados” with more than 80,000 followers. “Much of the goal with soju drinking is to allow Koreans to let loose,” she says, “to set aside their worries, have fun with their friends and loosen the rigid structures of Korean society.”
At her Brooklyn bar Orion, Yoo serves soju by the bottle with snacks, plus soju cocktails, shots and flights. Guests can also try the Korean answer to the Depth Charge, somaek – which sees a shot of soju dropped into a glass of beer – and house infusions, such as the samgyetang soju “infused with medicinal herbs and roots, which give it a woody and earthy flavour that feels really healing and shows how dynamic soju can be”, says Yoo. Her guide Soju Party: How to Drink (and Eat!) Like a Korean will be published by Knopf in September.
Haera Shin, Momofuku’s Korean-American beverage director, believes this will be soju’s breakthrough year. “It’s been building momentum […] K-pop stars are bringing their brand ambassadorship along with them.” Drinkers, meanwhile, “are catching on to soju’s drinkability”. In Manhattan, at Momofoku’s East Village Noodle Bar, Shin mixes the Spicy Lychee Slushy with cheap and cheerful Jinro Soju 24 (£12.40 for 70cl, masterofmalt.com). At the uptown branch, she serves the more upmarket Tokki, a craft rice soju born in Brooklyn and so popular it’s now made in Korea to meet demand. They include the mixable 23 per cent abv Tokki White Label (£54 for 70cl, caskcartel.com) and Tokki Black Label ($44.99 for 75cl, unionsquarewines.com), a 40 per cent abv with a complex flavour closer to unaged whisky that’s designed for sipping on the rocks.
At Momofuku’s LA restaurant Majordōmo, meanwhile, fruit-flavoured sojus like Good Day Watermelon Soju (£9 for 36cl, theumbrellaproject.co.uk) come into their own in sunshine-y cocktails like Melons from H-Mart, a highball inspired by the taste of Korean melons. Shin’s own soju handbook, Korean Cocktails, is out next year.
Modern-day soju was forged as a workaday blue-collar drink – but it does have an artisan side. At London’s Michelin-starred Korean restaurant Sollip, diners can sip Jinmaek Soju (40 per cent abv, £49.99 for 50cl, atokorea.co.uk), an organic wheat soju based on a 16th-century recipe, or Lee Gang Ju (£33.64 for 50cl, masterofmalt.com), a sweetly spiced soju once enjoyed by the kings of the Joseon dynasty. Soju also sits alongside the fine wine at Raon, an upscale new Korean restaurant in Manhattan. “Particularly with bold and spicy flavours, [soju’s] higher alcohol content and fuller texture [create] a more harmonious pairing,” says sommelier Hak Soo Kim.
A classic ballast for soju is BBQ pork. For some of the best in Korea, head to the Gold Pig in Seoul, says Lee Seong-ha. He also recommends the Cheerful Drinking Table – whose proprietor starred in Netflix’s Culinary Class Wars – and Ho Seonsaeng Jeon, a tiny eatery in Gwangjang Market for its “good Korean spirits selection”. So far, soju.
Comments