I Live In Korea

Pretty damn cheap, keep reading…

“What do they drink in Korea?” was a common question I was asked from people when I told them I was moving here. Well, they drink beer, liquor and wine, the same things people in every other country drink. I guess a better question would have been “does Korea have a drink which is native to them?” The answer to that is yes, Soju.

To get a quick explanation of Soju, click below, otherwise read ahead.



A typical beer has 5% alcohol in it, the typical brand of Soju you get from the supermarket has 20% alcohol in it. So that means by unit Soju is 4x strong as alcohol, meaning four 12 ounce cans of beer is equal to one 12 ounce bottle of Soju.

However, this bottle…
Is 60 ounces, therefore it has the same amount of liquid as five beers.

If four beers equals one 12 ounce bottle of Soju, then it would take twenty beers to consume the same amount of alcohol as the 60 ounce bottle of Soju. Yes, drinking this bottle is like having twenty beers. How much does it cost? $3.50.

The equivalent of twenty beers for $3.50? Not bad at all. I guess that explains why I see a lot of this here...

One of the first images of Korea I remember upon landing was some guy vomiting profusely outside of a bar near my house. I've seen at least 10 people puking on the street since I've been here, that's an average of more than one per week. It's a normal occurrence and I guess it's thanks to Soju.