Sool | A Guide to Essential Terms, Origins and Culture

전통주 · jeontongju | the whole world of Korean drink in one page

Sool is the single native Korean word for all fermented and distilled drink, and everything in this guide grows out of it.

Korean artisanal alcohol is called jeontongju (전통주), but the everyday word for drink itself is Sool (술). Before any brand or style, Sool begins with three things drawn from the Korean land: rice, the grain at the heart of almost every bottle; nuruk, the wild fermentation starter that turns grain into alcohol; and clean water. Understanding where these come from, which mountains, which river basins, which seasons, is inseparable from understanding the drink itself. To these are added regional Korean ingredients: from distinctly Korean fruits such as omija, the five flavour berry, comes even a sparkling wine of its own.

From those raw materials flow the great families of Sool. This guide traces each word back to its root and places it in more than two thousand years of Korean social history, from the farmer's field to the royal court.

The family at a glance

오미자 · Omija Sparkling Wine is a refined expression that highlights the vibrant acidity and delicate effervescence of Korea's five flavour berry.

탁주 · Takju is an artisanal, unfiltered rice wine whose natural sediment lends a silken body and a gently tangy complexity. As the heart of the old home-brewing (gayangju) tradition, takju is also the origin from which makgeolli is made.

막걸리 · Makgeolli is a softly effervescent, ivory hued rice wine, loved for its creamy elegance and subtly refreshing sweetness. It is made by adjusting takju with water to a lower strength after fermentation, easier to drink and so the most widely enjoyed Sool of everyday life.

약주 · Yakju is a meticulously clarified rice wine, sometimes likened in Europe to a Korean vermouth, delicately infused with local botanicals such as wild herbs, mushrooms, pear, cinnamon and mandarin.

청주 · Cheongju is an elegant, crystal clear rice wine achieved through careful filtration, offering a luminous appearance and a gracefully composed profile.

소주 · Soju is a finely distilled spirit, distinguished by its clarity, poised structure and refined warmth.

Read on, and each of these words opens into a story.