Cho Andong

Distillery, Andong, KR

Cho Andong Soju preserves the second great family line of Andong soju. Master Cho Ok Hwa, Korea Food Master No. 20, revived her family’s secret recipe after the upheavals of the 20th century, a classical spirit from the traditional still: clear, pure, and of historic strength.

Andong 1999: a royal visit

On 21 April 1999, Queen Elizabeth II visited Hahoe Village near Andong, it was her 73rd birthday. The birthday table was prepared by Cho Ok Hwa: 47 traditional dishes, among them delicacies once reserved for the king alone, and with them, her Andong soju. It was a memorable first encounter: the British Queen, a guest in Korea’s Confucian heartland, at a table set by one of the country’s masters. The visit made the spirit known far beyond Korea.

Cho Ok Hwa

The master’s values

Cho was designated Korea Food Master in 2000, recognition of a life’s work. Many noble family recipes were lost in the colonial era, when home distilling was forbidden; that her family’s recipe survived is owed to her persistence. Her soju is made in the traditional sojutgori still, with nothing added, at around 45 percent, the historic strength. And her most important work is passing it on: within the family she trains her successors, so that the knowledge will never again be at risk.

Hahoetal and ceramics

Andong is the home of the hahoetal, Korea’s most famous mask. Its knowing smile belongs to the mask play of the UNESCO-listed village of Hahoe, performed there for centuries, and has long become the emblem of the whole region. You meet this heritage in the bottle as well: traditionally the soju is filled into ceramic vessels bearing the mask’s motif. The clay shields the spirit from light and warmth, uniting folk art, craft and the spirit of Andong in a single vessel.

#11 Cho Andongsoju

Soju Halle
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