Beer Styles

The classic Seoul beer is a pale, bottom-fermented lager, technically known as an International Pale Lager. This category includes Cass Fresh at 4.5 percent alcohol, Hite, Max at 4.5 percent, OB Golden Lager at 4.8 percent, and newer entries Terra and Kloud. The Korean word for beer is maekju.

How does this differ from a German Pils? A Pils is noticeably more bitter, drier, and more hop-forward. A Korean lager tastes milder, softer, and often slightly sweet, since rice or corn dilutes the malt. Compared to a Munich Helles, it lacks that bready malt fullness.

Stronger versions exist too. Cass Red reaches 6.9 percent alcohol, the highest strength among the well-known Cass varieties. In the craft scene, meanwhile, you'll find everything available in Portland or Vancouver: IPA, stout, wheat beer, and seasonal brews.

Makgeolli, soju, and somaek don't count as beer, even though they often share the same table. Makgeolli is a rice wine, soju a spirit, and somaek a mix of the two with beer, usually blended in a ratio of about three parts soju to seven parts beer.

Since 2020, taxation has also changed: beer in South Korea is now taxed by volume rather than by price. Imported beers, previously taxed based on their import price, have benefited from this shift. For flavor, that means the shelf next to Cass and Hite increasingly features an overseas lager whose aroma stands out clearly from the local rice-based lagers. For beginners, the comparison is well worth trying.