Region & History

Seoul got its first brewery in 1908, so beer only arrived in Korea in the early 20th century. 1933 saw the founding of the two companies that still shape the country today: Chosun Breweries, which later became Hite, and Showa Kirin Breweries, now known as OB. The renaming came late—OB has carried its name since 1995, Hite since 1998.

In 1994, the Jinro Coors brewery launched the Cass brand. In 1999, Interbrew, the predecessor to AB InBev, bought this brewery, and Cass has belonged to the OB Group ever since. Hite took over the soju producer Jinro in 2006 and has been called HiteJinro since. Since 2014, Lotte Liquor has also entered the fray with its Kloud beer.

So anyone ordering a beer in Seoul will almost always get a product from one of these houses. There's no protected designation of origin for a 'Seoul style' the way there is for Kölsch in Cologne. Here, Seoul isn't a type of beer but a market where pale lager sets the tone.

How small breweries in South Korea are even allowed to operate has been regulated step by step by lawmakers. After the 2002 amendment to the Liquor Tax Act, the state issued the first licenses for small breweries, but their beer could only be served on the premises. Such venues are called brewpubs. In 2011, the state relaxed the rules further.

The real breakthrough came with the legal amendment of April 2014. Since then, small breweries have been allowed to supply restaurants and bars via wholesalers. According to Wikipedia, the number of breweries rose from 54 in 2014 to over 100 by 2018. Craftworks opened as early as 2010 in Gyeongnidan, a neighborhood near Itaewon. Magpie Brewing followed in 2011.