The cocktail is served with an L-shaped cocktail stir that raises and lowers a large, rectangular ice cube to produce the frothy head of a freshly drawn beer. It’s one of the most popular drinks on Jigger & Pony’s menu.
Unlike the most available brands, which have a neutral, grain alcohol taste, finely crafted sojus often have savoury notes like those of mushroom and hazelnut.
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The best-known versions of the spirit are the artificially flavoured, sweetened ones invariably produced by South Korea’s largest soju producer, Jinro, whose green bottles litter many a late-night karaoke room.
Jinro doesn’t just dominate the soju market, it’s the world’s top liquor brand. Parent company HiteJinro took in around US$1.13 billion in revenue from soju in 2022. That year, Jinro became the first liquor brand to sell more than 100 million cases, up from 65.3 million a decade ago.
Jinro’s dominance resulted from decades of austerity in rice production and distribution that made it difficult to produce high-quality soju. In 1965, South Korea’s government banned the use of rice in alcohol production in response to widespread famine following the Korean war (1950-1953).
The regulatory hurdle came as a blessing in disguise for large companies such as Jinro and Lotte, leading them to mass-produce the spirit with ethanol-based distillates made from cheap commodity starches like tapioca and sweet potato.
The move away from traditional, small-batch products spurred the creation of a commoditised soju for mass consumption.
Now craft distilleries such as Tokki, whose Black Label soju features in Jang’s boilermaker, are reaping the rewards of increased cocktail bar demand by returning to more artisanal production methods and ingredients such as rice and nuruk – the traditional Korean fermentation starter used for alcohol – to produce higher-quality spirit.
Tokki Soju was founded in Brooklyn, New York, in 2014 by Brandon Hill, who, with chief executive officer Douglas Park, moved operations to Chungju, South Korea, in 2020.
The company has enjoyed a 90 per cent compound annual growth rate over the past seven years and in one year nearly doubled its production, from 29,000 cases in 2022 to 54,000 cases in 2023. It sells 375ml and 750ml bottles for prices that range from about US$25 to US$60.
Its products feature at seven of the World’s 50 Best Bars, including New York’s Double Chicken Please (2nd) and Overstory (17th), and at Argo in Hong Kong (34th).
Soju as a spirit, as a craft, has the depth to compete against Japanese craft spirits
“Different sojus can be used flexibly as either neutral lower-ABV spirits or higher-proof grain-forward spirits that truly stand out in cocktails,” says Sondre Kasin, principal bartender of Coqodaq’s parent company, Gracious Hospitality.
As former bartenders, Tokki’s Hill and Park see value in promoting their brand at high-profile cocktail venues. “Our strategy has always been to target the top-tiered restaurants and bars,” Park says.
Another label getting attention in the United States is a collaboration between Brooklyn’s Hana Makgeolli, which makes premium-quality fermented rice wine, and Matchbook Distilling, in Greenport, New York.
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Hana Soju 60 (US$60 for 375ml) is made with nuruk and distilled at 60 per cent ABV – more than triple that of most green-bottle sojus – bringing out the spirit’s bright, floral character. Released in December, it’s served at top Korean restaurants, including New York’s Atomix and Baroo in Los Angeles.
Alice Jun, Hana Makgeolli’s co-founder, says she plans to expand brewing capacity in the spring and to begin exporting by year end.
Boutique importers are meeting demand from restaurant and cocktail bars by bringing more craft soju from Korea.
We want it to get to a point where you don’t even think of it as Korean any more
KMS Imports, a New York-based outfit that has specialised in small-batch soju since it was established in 2020, has doubled its number of producers to build a portfolio of 20 distinct craft products in less than four years – impressive growth, given that demand among Americans was long confined to a niche.
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Hwasim Jujo, an up-and-coming distillery located about an hour outside Seoul, is collaborating with Zest (at 18th, Korea’s highest-ranked bar on the World’s Best list) to develop a private-label soju that incorporates the bar’s zero-waste philosophy: spent garnishes such as rosemary sprigs are used in production.
Noah Kwon, Zest’s co-founder, says the team plans to debut a sustainable milk-washed cocktail with Hwasim’s smoked rice soju; “Almost 70 per cent” will be flavoured with repurposed fish bones, green tea and vinegar.
For its part, Tokki has been broadening its portfolio of artisanal sojus to include higher-end expressions. Among them is a premium soju finished in Pedro Ximénez sherry casks and priced at US$60, more than twice that of Tokki’s entry-level White Label soju.
The company believes the biggest growth opportunity for craft soju lies in major cities where cocktail culture is flourishing.
“We want it to get to a point where you don’t even think of it as Korean any more,” says Tokki’s Hill. “When you think of vodka, you don’t think ‘Eastern European’ any more. That’s just something that’s at a bar.”