Drinking Culture of Korea

Most of us love to get buzzed, especially on the weekend. For the busy people, it is a good way to release some stress while getting connected with friends. In Korea, drinking is a big thing.

Look at how PSY is enjoy his time with Snoop dog.

Soju and Provinces around Korea

Every region in Korea has their own soju and they are enjoyed greatly in the region itself. The picture below gives you a general idea how it works, although they are still other soju that are widely enjoyed in all the regions, this should give you a rough idea.

Thanks to Korea.net for the picture.

My wife is from Gwangju and hence we enjoy Yipsejoo 잎세주. In case you are wondering where Gwangju 광주 is, it is in Jeollado province전라도 which is the southern side of Korea. Yipsejoo has a distinct clean taste from the 5 times filtration done.

Another popular soju that is not listed in the picture is from Jeju island 제주도. The hallasan soju 한라산 소주 named after the mountain in Jeju is one of the speciality soju from the area.

Paring food with drinks

Koreans have the habit of eating something while drinking. The food that goes along with alcohol is known as an ju (안주). There are basically 3 basic ways of pairing alcohol.

I guess everyone knows the first one. Chimaek (치맥) which means beer and chicken (fried) 치킨 맥주.

Cripsy and hot chicken, bubbly cold beer, need i say more? Korean friend chicken are fried in a way that the flesh remains soft while the batter is sooooooo crispy and stays crispy for some time.... I am craving for some chimaek right now....

Second one, so sam 소삼 which is soju and samgyup sal (pork belly). The soju cuts the fattiness of the pork belly makes it so much easier to consume large quantity of pork belly while the pork belly helps to soothe the strength of the soju. Match made in heaven.

Third, makgoli and pancake 막걸리 전. Milky and sweet rice wine goes well with the fluufy and crispy Korean pancake. Popular pancake includes chives, kimchi and seafood pancake. Yummy! Easy to make and goes well with makgoli.

I must say, Korean pork belly taste really nice, if you have the chance you should try the Ohgyubsal 오겹살 five layer pork belly that is usually taken from the famous black porker from Jeju island. As for soju, my favourite is Yipseju 잎새주 from 광주 Gwangju (Jeolla-do). It has a very clean and cripsy taste. The combination of these two will make my day a super fine day 좋은데이 (pun intended, Joeun day is a soju in Korea and it means "good day")

Latest model for the Good day (Joeun daei) soju

In case you are wondering who she is, she is from Apink a Kpop group. Some of their hits include: Luv (the highest number of number one ranking attained in Korean music show history) , Mr. Chu, 일도없어 (I'm so sick) produced by Will.i.am and Nonono that propelled them to stardom. Below is her (their) lastest song 일도없어. For those who want to know who she is can take a look.

Ways to drink soju

Best way to drink in my opinion is to drink it neat. However, the catch is that the bottle and shot glass must be extremely chilled. Best feeling.

Some people drink it with soda or fruit juice (usually the ladies) but I am not a fan of it as I do not like sweetened drinks usually. Anyways, nowadays most of the soju company launched different types of fruit soju, such as grapefruit, grape so on so forth. If you like fruits and dislike the strong "anti-septic" smell and taste of soju, fruit soju is for you.

Third style is soju bomb, Somaek (소맥). Mixing soju with maekju (beer) hence the name, somaek. The portion of mixing varies, and it is based on the drinker himself. For me, I will go for about 1/5 of the class with soju and the rest beer. For me that's the golden proportion.

Time for some Korean food and alcohol! Let's go! Haha. Try it out, you won't regret it. People who want to know some delicious Korean restaurant can contact me, I can recommend a few of my personal favourites in Korea (Gwangju & Damyang area) and Singapore.

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*Thanks to all the authors for the pictures