Talk:Soju

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[edit] Need citation

Is there a citation available for the claim that most of the current soju brands use watered-down ethanol? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 222.106.209.172 (talk) 08:51, August 20, 2007 (UTC)


[edit] Jinro

[edit] What is?

Is this the same as Jinro or is that another drink? I can't find anything about Jinro on Wikipedia and was kind of wondering what is. --KayEss 19:17, 26 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Jinro is the name of a specific drink maker in Korea which produces soju as well as a rather poor red wine. I seem to recall that Jinro is the largest maker of soju, but then again, I could be mistaken.

Zonath 11:01, Mar 30, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] References

This text has been added twice: "Jinro... is considered the highest quality soju on the market." References, please. -- Visviva 03:56, 26 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Continual reverts

The following text (in bold) was removed first by user:Bobbybuilder and then by user:MarkSweep. Both times the only comment were 'rv. vandalism' and 'rvv'.

Jinro is the largest manufacturer of soju (70 Million Cases Sold in 2004) and considered the highest quality soju on the market. Like many sojo makers, Jinro makes 3 classes of soju: the Premium class is sold within Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and many European and North American countries. The second class and third class is sold to China, and has larger amounts of impurities.

I guess that they have their reasons for this, but if so it's not been discussed here. Maybe they can explain them? Maybe the people adding it back in can show some sources for the text? — KayEss | talk 05:05, 27 July 2005 (UTC)


Is Jinro made by distilling Rice or by diluting ethonol with water and adding flavoring?

Jinro is a manufacturer of many different soju. The common varieties are 'Diluted' sojus. I'm not sure if they do any 'Distilled' soju. One day I might write the expansion in the main article. Maybe. I'd need to sober up first. --Bb3cxv 07:59, 31 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] WikiThuggery at Work?

It is rather interesting that only Jinro soju is featured here in both photograph and links. I am taking the liberty of adding an array of links to other soju producers across the peninsula and on Cheju. Why should only one brand receive all the attention? Are WikiThugs making sure that no other brand is featured here?

63.219.0.9 08:54, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

I don't think so... more likely a case of nobody (except apparently for Jinroboosters) really Wikicaring. Thanks for your interest in broadening the article. I do wonder, though, if we should include any external links to manufacturers. -- Visviva 13:31, 8 February 2006 (UTC)
I put up the Jinro soju image because I took the photo for a magazine article and could release a low quality GFDL copy of the image. The article went into cultural aspects of soju such as the specific glasses used, and the only glasses I could get were Jinro branded, therefore I needed to get the matching soju. The image being Jinro is a fluke. (Well actually I guess it's a consequence of the pervasive marketing of Jinro, but had it been done 6 months prior it would have been C1). Throw down whatever brands you please, but perhaps in the form of a brand list with notes separating the distilled from the diluted? Bb3cxv 11:28, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Wikiplayerhating?

There appears to be plenty of information on competing soju and shochu manufacturers here. Perhaps the reason Jinro is so prominently discussed is because Jinro is the world's best selling spirit (bigger than stoli vodka and bacardi combined) and represents over 70% of the soju consumed internationally.

[edit] Main ingredient: Rice?

This page says rice is the main ingrediant.

I'd like to see a source for this. Many foreigners who come to Korea assume soju is made from rice because it's an Asian spirit, and then they tell their friends who are new to Korea that it's "the Korean version of sake." Soju is not the Korean version of sake; Chungju is Korean sake. Any educated Korean will tell you that it was illegal to make soju from rice from 1965 to 1999 (because people needed to eat rice) and it was made from sweet potato and/or tapioca: http://www2.gol.com/users/coynerhm/moving_beyond_the_green_blur.htm

While it is legal to produce soju from rice now, I'd like to see where any soju manufacturing company has said that they have switched back to rice. On Jinro's English page they refer to their soju as a vodka, most likely because they are using potatoes rather than rice. -Jeff

Rice is still much more expensive than other materials commonly used to make soju, and so isn't really used by the major manufacturers of soju. There are some distilleries that use rice to make soju, such as the ones that make "Andong Soju", for example. [1][2], but these styles of soju cost a lot more than the mass-produced soju you get in supermarkets -- typically $30-$50 (or more) a bottle.

--Zonath 04:00, 17 April 2006 (UTC)


It's not made from rice, so change the article.

Comparing it to vodka instead of sake would be a better idea. --RisingSunWiki 23:46, 4 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Production?

This paragraph from the article doesn't make sense:

"From 1965 until 1991, in order to alleviate rice shortages, the Korean government prohibited the production of distilled soju. Soju was then made primarily through dilution by mixing pure ethanol with water and flavoring. The vast majority of inexpensive soju available today is produced in this manner. The Korean government regulates the alcohol content of diluted soju to less than 35%."

If soju was and is not distilled, then how is the "pure ethanol" from which it is made produced? This paragraph makes it sound like drugstore-bought rubbing alcohol is used to produce soju. Also, is soju a fermented or distilled spirit? List of alcoholic beverages lists it as a fermented spirit. Badagnani 04:42, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

That paragraph could probably be cleaned up a bit to prevent such confusion... I'll see if I can come up with a workable rewrite. --Zonath 05:10, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Main Picture

There are several (actually more than 10) soju brands in Korea. But the main picture is of Jinro, which seems like an ad to me. Janviermichelle 08:53, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

Please feel free to provide a better picture. However, please do not simply remove the image, which is GFDL-licensed and appropriate to the topic. -- Visviva 10:00, 17 May 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Low Price

"Because of its ready availability and its low price relative to other alcoholic beverages, soju has become one of the most popular alcoholic beverages in Korea."

What is "low price"?

That bottle in the picture on the page? (which is, I believe, 360 ml at 20% alcohol.) It costs less than a dollar.

[edit] History and vs. Shōchū

There's a comment in the lead-in that states that Shōchū is just a Japanese version of soju. This is completely loaded, and no information is provided elsewhere to support this claim. It needs history and ingredient comparison at least. In general, more history is needed here. The Shōchū article at least discusses the origins as a few different possibilities. 64.172.210.200 22:51, 21 February 2007 (UTC)


It seems that Japanese "shōchū", Korean "soju" and Chinese "shaojiu" all refer to pretty much the same thing: distilled liquor. The three varieties which exist today taste different and can be considered different products, and probably have been thus distinct for a long time (as a Champagne is different from a Riesling, but both are called wine).

[edit] Red Dog statement

Actually its called a white dog because of the color. In Osan there was a bar called Easy Riders that served them. 216.153.166.70 15:20, 20 July 2007 (UTC)chefantwon

[edit] The picture and general contents misguide about soju

Due to Jinro soju with its popularity and cheapest price in South Korea, the name "soju" has been tainted. Because originally soju referred to distilled alcoholic beverages with high quality in Korean cuisine such as Andong soju. It is so absurd that some Japanese POV pushers tagged the false category like Category:Korean culture of Japanese origin. Korea, Japan and Vietnam are under the Sino culture and Chinese character was transmitted to Japan via Korea very last. The similarity on names can't be a ground to tag the false category. You can see how the category can be a biased with his/her hatred feeling against Korea. Anyway, I'm working on articles related to old cook books published during mid and late Joseon dynasty for Korean wiki. I've acknowledged that there were countless soju making in past times. This article is just focusing on the manufactured versions of soju. If you want to see the history of manufactured jinro soju or chamiseul soju, go directly to their company sites. --Appletrees (talk) 04:46, 19 November 2007 (UTC)


[edit] Consistency?

The opening paragraph refers to, “ tapioca (called dangmil in Korean).” If there is gong to be a paranthetical romanization for rapioca… then why not for every other potential ingrediant listed in the paragraph?

[edit] Persia

At article Shōchū an editor has been replacing a sourced reference to China with an unsourced reference to Persia. He recently sourced it to a citation of Persia at this article, which is... unsourced. Anyone care to source it, then maybe both problems could be solved? Regards. Dekkappai (talk) 21:10, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Thanks to User:Cypoet‎ and User:Appletrees, this issue has been fixed. Dekkappai (talk) 17:32, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Etiquette

Etiquette section really needs paragraphing. Bulleted lists should be used for listing items that can't be explained through prose. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 141.211.4.25 (talk) 22:47, 9 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Chamisul or Chamjinisulro?

According to Jinro's web site, the Chinese characters on the bottle are pronounced, so the picture in question is of Chamjinisulro; Chamiseul is a different drink, according to Jinro's web site. Correct? --RisingSunWiki 16:26, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Jin(meaning "cham" or truth? in korean) and Ro(meaning "isul" or dew in Korean). So it is "Cham-Jin Isul-Ro" if you pronounce both chinese nd korean characters, or it is "cham-isul" if you just pronounce Korean. Janviermichelle (talk) 21:13, 5 May 2008 (UTC)
The point I was trying to make is that Chamisul and Chamjinisulro are two different drinks, according to the English Jinro web site. The current picture at the top of the article is of Chamjinisulro, but the caption says it is Chamisul. Shouldn't it be changed? --RisingSunWiki 02:11, 6 May 2008 (UTC)
The bottle described as "Chamjinisulro" on the site is known simply as Chamisul in Korea, the yellow-label version listed on the website as Chamisul is the export brand.. I wouldn't know if the "Chamjinisulro" brand is widely popular internationally, or how it is primarily referred to outwith Korea, but it is hugely popular within Korea, and always known as Chamisul. As the article describes soju in a largely Korean context (etiquette etc.), I would say it's a little bureaucratic to insist on the long / international version of the name. Deiz talk 04:08, 6 May 2008 (UTC)
I wasn't looking at the export product page. According to the domestic product page, there are three Jinro sojus: gold, chamisul fresh, and chamjinisulro. The image currently in the Wiki article is described as chamjinisulro on Jinro's domestic product page. Also, if you look at the label on the bottle, it says in red English all caps, CHAMJINISULRO. Is it called chamisul by waygookins or Koreans? If it's called chamisul by Koreans in Korean in Korea, then that's the name that should be used. If it's called chamisul solely by waygookins, then the waygookins are wrong. --RisingSunWiki 13:57, 6 May 2008 (UTC)
I'm yet to hear the term Chamjinisulro.. however, the "fresh" version has grown in popularity in recent years, and tends to be what you are brought if you ask for Chamisul today. I guess from that standpoint it could be akin to, say, Bud Light becoming the primary brand known generally as "Bud", and a customer having to ask for "Bud Regular" to make sure they got what they wanted. I'm still not convinced the full name is necessary, but would accept that if one brand was known as Chamisul in contemporary usage it would be the "fresh" variant, and it's feasible that you might have to ask for Chamjinisulro to make sure you get the traditional bottle. It may also be that younger drinkers are assumed to prefer "fresh", and older drinkers Chamjinisulro. I'll get into some serious research with the locals. Deiz talk 15:49, 6 May 2008 (UTC)
Consensus from Koreans I've spoken to (plenty of regular soju drinkers among them) is that they would never ask for "Chamjinisulro" and would be surprised if anyone did.. they might specify that they did or did not want the "fresh" version if they had a preference, but I'm yet to ask anyone who has heard the longer term being used. I think we're fine with Chamisul. Deiz talk 03:47, 8 May 2008 (UTC)