Top 10 Distilleries in South Korea
South Korea has one of the world's most distinctive spirits cultures, built around soju — a spirit that outsells every other branded spirit on Earth by volume. Yet the soju most international visitors encounter, the cheap green-bottled diluted spirit sold in Korean restaurants globally, barely hints at the country's actual distilling tradition. Traditional Korean spirits — andong soju, goryeo soju, and the range of home-distilled grain spirits collectively known as makgeolli and its distilled derivative cheongju — represent a heritage of grain fermentation and distillation that predates the current industrial soju industry by centuries.
The andong soju tradition, centred on the town of Andong in North Gyeongsang Province, is perhaps Korea's most important artisanal spirits heritage. Distilled from fermented nuruk (traditional Korean koji-based fermentation starter) and grain, andong soju reaches 45% ABV and has a complex, fermented grain character entirely unlike the neutral diluted spirit that dominates the commercial market. Alongside these traditional producers, South Korea now hosts a growing number of craft distilleries producing whisky, gin, and craft soju in line with global spirits trends. The distillery map shows the full range of Korean distillers.
1. Andong Soju Traditional Brewery, Andong
Andong soju has been produced in the Andong area of North Gyeongsang Province since the Goryeo dynasty (918–1392 CE), with the recipe preserved through the aristocratic Joseon class families who controlled its production. The Andong Soju Traditional Brewery, operated by masters who have received the spirit's production knowledge as registered Intangible Cultural Heritage, uses wheat-based nuruk fermentation starter, rice, and locally sourced water to produce a traditionally distilled soju at 45% ABV. The flavour — fermented grain, a subtle sweetness from the rice, earthy depth from the nuruk — is entirely distinct from commercial soju and has more in common with aged sake or Chinese baijiu than with the modern Korean mass market spirit. The brewery offers tours and tastings.
2. Three Societies Distillery, Seoul
Three Societies is South Korea's first whisky distillery in the modern craft distilling sense, founded in 2021 in the Gyeonggi Province area near Seoul. The distillery produces single malt whisky from Korean barley using Scottish-style copper pot stills and a range of cask types including ex-bourbon, ex-sherry, and ex-Korean oak casks — the latter being an experimental choice exploring how Korean quercus species affect maturation. The founding team includes distillers trained in Scotland, and the whisky program is explicitly positioned in the global single malt context while maintaining distinctly Korean elements in production materials and cask selection. Three Societies represents the ambition of Korea's new craft spirits generation.
3. Hwayo Distillery, Gyeonggi Province
Hwayo is the premium craft soju brand that has done most to rehabilitate the reputation of Korean soju internationally. Produced by Bohae Brewery in Gyeonggi Province, Hwayo's flagship expression is distilled from Korean-grown rice using traditional pot still distillation and then diluted to 41% ABV — significantly higher than the 16-25% of commercial soju, and much more reflective of genuine distillate character. The rice-distilled base has a clean, delicate grain quality with faint sweetness that stands in sharp contrast to the neutral ethanol of mass-market soju. Hwayo has been exported to premium Asian and Western markets and is stocked in fine dining restaurants and cocktail bars that take Korean spirits seriously.
4. Gyeongju Beopju, North Gyeongsang Province
Gyeongju beopju is a traditional Korean rice wine and its distillate, produced in Gyeongju — the ancient capital of the Silla dynasty — using a recipe that has been documented since at least the 8th century CE. The spirit version, distilled from fermented rice wine using traditional copper pot stills, is one of Korea's most historically significant beverages. The Gyeongju Beopju production guild maintains traditional methods including specific nuruk strains and regional water sources, producing a spirit with deep historical resonance in a city that is itself a UNESCO World Heritage designation for its extraordinary concentration of Silla-era cultural sites. Visiting the Gyeongju beopju breweries is inseparable from visiting the archaeological and architectural heritage of the ancient capital.
5. Lotte Chilsung Spirits Division, Multiple Locations
Lotte Chilsung is one of South Korea's largest beverage conglomerates, producing the Chum Churum soju brand — one of the country's best-selling commercial soju labels — as well as whisky under the Scotch Blue brand and a range of other spirits. While primarily industrial in scale, Lotte Chilsung's whisky operations are historically significant: Scotch Blue was South Korea's first domestic whisky brand, produced using imported Scotch malt whisky that was blended and matured in Korea. The company has also invested in premium soju production, with limited expressions that use traditional distillation methods alongside the mass-market diluted spirit lines that generate most revenue. Lotte's scale means it plays a crucial role in shaping Korean spirits culture.
6. Munbaeju Distillery, Seoul
Munbaeju is one of Korea's officially designated Important Intangible Cultural Properties in the spirits category, a pear tree-flower-infused soju that has been produced in the Pyongyang and northern Korean tradition and is now made in Seoul. The spirit uses pear tree flowers (munbae-kkot) steeped in a traditional grain soju base, producing a floral, delicate spirit with historical significance as a spirit associated with the pre-division Korean cultural aristocracy. The Munbaeju distillery in Seoul maintains the recipe and production methods under cultural heritage protection, producing limited quantities that are sold primarily to collectors and to cultural tourism visitors interested in the full spectrum of Korean spirits heritage.
7. Chamiseul Brand / HiteJinro, Seoul
HiteJinro is the world's largest soju producer by volume, and its Chamiseul (True Dew) brand is the bestselling spirit in the world by case sales. The industrial scale — tens of millions of cases per year — means that this is categorically different from artisanal production, but HiteJinro's involvement in premium soju development through its Iipsae (True Dew Classic) line, which uses a higher proportion of distilled grain spirit and less dilution, has brought some craft sensibility to the mass market. The company's history dates to 1924, making it one of the oldest continuous spirits producers in Korea, and its technical research into fermentation and distillation has influenced the entire Korean spirits industry.
8. Tokki Soju, Seoul
Tokki Soju is a New York-founded, Seoul-produced craft soju brand created by American entrepreneur Brandon Hill in partnership with Korean master distillers. The soju is made from 100% organic Korean rice fermented with traditional nuruk and distilled in copper pot stills to produce a single-grain rice spirit at 25% ABV. The resulting spirit bridges Korean tradition and international craft spirits sensibility — clean enough to drink neat, complex enough to stand comparison with premium Japanese rice spirits. Tokki has found its primary market in the upscale cocktail bar segment in the United States and has helped introduce a generation of American spirits enthusiasts to the genuine depth of Korean grain spirits tradition.
9. Baekhwasu Herbal Spirits, Jeonbuk Province
Baekhwasu is a traditional Korean herbal spirit produced in the Jeonbuk Province of southwest Korea, using a recipe that incorporates over a hundred different herbs, roots, and seeds macerated in a grain spirit base. The resulting spirit is deep amber in colour, intensely aromatic, and bitter — more comparable to a Chinese medicinal wine than to a Western liqueur, though the production method of macerating botanicals in high-strength grain spirit is similar in principle. Baekhwasu has been produced under the same recipe for several generations and holds traditional cultural significance in the region. It is consumed primarily as a health tonic and digestif rather than a recreational drink.
10. Korea Single Malt Project / Sacrament Distillery
Sacrament Distillery is among the newest of South Korea's craft whisky producers, founded with the explicit goal of producing Korean single malt whisky that competes on quality with established Asian whisky producers in Japan and Taiwan. The distillery sources Korean barley from domestic farms, malts it using imported Scottish equipment, and distills in custom-built copper pot stills. The maturation strategy uses a combination of ex-bourbon casks and ex-Korean rice wine casks, with the latter contributing an unusual fermented grain character to the wood influence. Korea's climate — with significant seasonal temperature variation — should support relatively rapid maturation, and early releases have attracted attention from the Asian spirits press as the whisky category continues to expand beyond its traditional Scottish and Irish strongholds.