What is soju?

Two kinds of soju

The word covers two different products, and confusing them is the most common error in English-language writing about Korea.

Diluted soju (희석식 소주, huiseoksik soju)

Neutral spirit distilled from starches such as tapioca, sweet potato or rice, then cut with water and adjusted with sweeteners. Typically 16–17% ABV. This is what almost every green bottle contains and what almost everyone means by "soju".

Distilled soju (증류식 소주, jeungnyusik soju)

Pot-distilled from fermented grain, usually rice, with no dilution to a low strength. Typically 25–45% ABV, sold in named bottles at premium prices, and closer in character to a traditional craft spirit.

Is soju vodka?

No. Vodka is distilled to be as neutral as possible and bottled at around 40% ABV. Mainstream soju is distilled to neutrality but then diluted and sweetened to roughly 16–17%, which puts it closer in strength to a fortified wine than to a Western spirit. The practical consequence is that soju is drunk in full glasses across a whole meal rather than in measured shots — which is exactly why an etiquette of pouring developed around it.

How strong is soju, and why has it been getting weaker?

Soju has been losing strength for a century. Early twentieth-century soju was around 30% ABV; the industry standard settled near 25% in the 1970s; the launch of low-strength brands in the late 1990s pushed it under 24%, and the mainstream has sat at 16–17% since the 2010s. The direction is consistent and commercial: a lower-strength bottle suits longer meals, mixed drinks and a generation that drinks less.

Why is the bottle green?

It was not always. Soju was sold in clear glass for most of its industrial history; green became the category signal in the 1990s and then hardened into a convention, and Korean distillers later agreed on a shared, reusable bottle format so that empties could be collected and refilled across brands. The result is unusual in the drinks world: a category where the container is more recognisable than any single label, and where the bottle itself is a piece of design that Koreans recognise instantly at any distance.

The world's best-selling spirit

In 2026 the UK trade publication Drinks International ranked Jinro the best-selling spirit brand in the world by volume for the twenty-fifth consecutive year, at 94.5 million nine-litre cases. That is a single Korean soju brand outselling every whisky, vodka, rum and gin brand on the planet — and it is the central reason this association exists. A drink at that scale should have a reference literature, and until recently it did not.

How soju is served

• In a soju glass (소주잔) of roughly 50 ml, not a tumbler.
• Chilled, and poured for you by someone else — you do not pour your own.
• With food (안주). Soju is a table drink; drinking it without food is considered both unpleasant and unwise.
• Often mixed with beer as somaek, which for many drinkers is the default rather than the variation.