Supermarket refrigerator with both brands of soju

Soju (소주, 燒酒) is a notorious rice liquor sold all over the place in Korea. It mainly comes in little green bottles, but is also known to show up in little juice boxes and big plastic bottles that look like mineral water. Normally 20.8% (40 proof) alcohol it is not very strong, but at 1,000 won in a convenience store and 3,000 won (or even less) at a bar, it is a cheap and popular way to drink, and is certainly the drink of choice to have with samgyeopsal or galbi. The popular poktanju is made by dropping a shotglass of soju into a glass of beer.

In Seoul there are 2 main brands: Chamisul (참이슬), the country's leading brand, and San (산). San is the one with the picture of a mountain on the bottle. The Chamisul brand comes from two different distilleries, one in Gyeonggi-do (경기도) and the other in Chungcheongnam-do, Cheongwon (충북 청원). The Gyeonggi-do soju is more bitter than its counterpart. You can find out which distillery produced a certain bottle of Chamisul by reading the far right edge of the front label. There are other brands of soju in different parts of Korea, including Hallasan Soju, produced in Jeju-do, and the 80-proof Andong Soju.

In 2006, the soju market, which hadn't seen a new product in decades, was shaken up by the introduction of brands of "light" soju, which has a slightly lower alcohol content at 19.8%. The most popular of the light brands is 처음처럼, which was also the first. Jinro soon countered with Chamisul Fresh and the two have battled for market share ever since.