Drinks
The World’s Fastest-Growing Whisky Market Is South Korea
- Whisky consumption surged 46% in 2022, the most of any nation
- Imports face taxes that more than double bottles’ sales prices
For Choi Gyu-Won, a 29-year-old Korean in a small village in South Gyeongsang, drinking whisky at home is a way to experience the good life on a budget.
“After tasting highballs at a bar, I decided to make them myself,” Choi said. He makes his own cocktail of soda, ice and whisky with Jack Daniel’s or Suntory Kakubin, which sells for about $35 a bottle in South Korea including taxes. While that’s still cheaper than going out for drinks, it’s far pricier than Korea’s more common soju that sells for about $2 a bottle.