Canned Soju Cocktails Are Bringing Korean Flavors Out of the Bottle

[Celerity]

These three soju CEOs are reimagining what the distilled rice beverage can be.

https://www.thrillist.com/drink/nation/canned-soju-korean-cocktail-trend



Grace Choi always knew she wanted to start a brand that celebrated her heritage as Korean American—she just thought it’d be a K-beauty line or something to do with skincare. But as an event planner, she kept thinking about the types of activities she loves the most. “I started thinking about what I really enjoy doing, which is spending time with friends and family. And then what do I like doing when I’m with them?” she ponders. “Drinking soju.”

The idea came to Chio two years ago, after seeing the successes of White Claw and other low-ABV canned drinks. But she wanted to create one herself that embraced her Korean-American upbringing complete with flavors and ingredients that felt familiar to her. So she began cold calling canneries, ready to take her canned soju cocktail line, Jumo, from concept to reality.

But making a line of canned alcoholic beverages is not easy. Carol Pak, the founder of Sool which has a line of canned soju cocktails called Soku and canned makgeolli (unfiltered rice beer) called Makku—knows this intimately. Prior to starting Sool, she spent a year working at ZX Ventures, the innovation arm of Anheuser-Busch InBev.

“While working in that position, I had access to a lot of data, both locally and globally, and knew that the next five to ten years would be filled with a huge shift in the beverage environment,” Pak explains. On a trip to Korea visiting family friends, she perused the grocery store beverage aisles and it occurred to her that she, too, could be part of this shift. “My friends knew that I was working in the industry and mentioned that I should start looking into makgeolli because there was this resurgence of the younger generation trying to revive this ancient, outdated drink.”

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