The HAN Liquor 더한주류

The HAN Liquor (더한주류) - Proud of making craft soju only with high-quality Korean plums

'The HAN Liquor' only manufactures alcoholic beverages made from plums. In the case of other alcoholic beverages that use plum as the main ingredient, other fruit-based alcohol is added to lower the liquor tax. However, it produces plum drinks using 100% plum to enhance the richness of plum itself.

It tries to improve the quality of the drink by also using honey produced in Jeju Island instead of sugar.

We would like to share some conversation with Jung Hee Han, CEO of The Korea Liquor.

You have very unique careers. You said that you studied in Austria as a violinist?

Jung Hee – “Yes, that's right. I went to Vienna, Austria, to study there in my 3rd year at Sunhwa Arts Middle School (in Korea) and graduated with a violin major as the top student in both undergraduate and graduate schools.”

“I returned to Korea despite my supervisor's advice there that I should take the performing course for two more years and then play as a soloist. I thought I didn't have enough talent to do music for the rest of my life. At that time, I also had a herniated disc and it was difficult to play the piano.”

What motivated you to make plum wine after returning home?

“My family has a plum orchard. Since I was a child, the table was full of plums, and I grew up tasting the plum drink my grandmother made. After returning to the home country from Austria, I had a drink with my friends, and I ended up drinking a nonsense plum drink that was completely different from my grandmother's plum drink."

"I have already tasted the best plum drink. I had a confidence that I could distinguish my plum drink from others and decided to set up my own venture to make plum drinks.”

Can I get a sneak peek at Grandma's plum drink recipe?

“The first is to make it with yellow plum, and the second is to add honey instead of sugar. I have adopted this principle. Other companies use unripe blue plums as raw materials, but we use ripe yellow plums. The ripe flesh has a high sweetness, but if it is not processed within a day after picking it, the fruit will be crushed."

"At The Korea Liquor, the yellow ripe plums are rapidly cooled to make alcohol. For honey, we also use Jeju Island honey to increase healthy sweet levels.”