HiteJinro

On October 19, 1998, Chamisul, which debuted in the domestic soju market, broke the common sense that soju is 25% ABV and changed the image of strong soju to " soft and clean. "It is the best brand of domestic soju. As a byword for soju following Jinro, Chamisul changed the history of the soju market in terms of quality, brand power, and sales volume.It's a breakthrough. " Chamisul, " which started out as a 23% ABV product when it was released, is now 20.1% ABV and 17.2 degrees% ABV. These two brands are leading the domestic soju market.

Chamisul, which has been gaining huge popularity by using bamboo charcoal filtration method when it was launched, has been renewing its products seven times.

Chamisul has become a byword for soju, a single brand with more than 50 percent of the national market in just two years.

Hitejinro’s product line which includes 6 beers, most notably the Hite label, 7 soju lines, to include the Korean favorite, Chamisul; 2 whiskey variations, and one wine, garnered them a sizeable market share. Hite Brewery Co., Ltd. is the leading player in the Korean alcoholic drinks market, generating a 50.2% share of these.[note 1]

Jinro's brand of soju is the biggest-selling spirit in the world, according to a survey by the UK-based Drinks International magazine, easily outselling vodka and whisky brands last year.[note 2]

Average adult annual consumption of spirits in South Korea is 9.57 liters, the world’s highest, according to 2005 data from the World Health Organization published last year. The Korean landscape of drinking has resulted in numerous street brawls, increased family violence and other crimes involving drinking. This prevalent problem is further exacerbated due to very minimal government punishment when a crime is committed with alcohol.[note 3]

Due to these occurrences, Hite-Jinro has begun putting warning labels on bottles of Chamisul and Beer products with messages reading: "No more drunken violence! Let's improve wrong drinking culture!"[note 4]

"We felt tremendously responsible for social problems caused by drinking... we will help with efforts to change our drinking culture to a more positive one," said a sales manager at Hite-Jinro, quoted in Chosun Ilbo newspaper.

Soju sales are soaring and foreign companies are considering buying into one of the few Korean industries to relish the economic crisis. But outsiders face tough, patriotic competition.

With HiteJinro's most notable drink, Soju, it has quickly gained momentum and popularity as a vodka substitute. The spirit, which is distilled from rice, barley, and koji, has become a popular import; though, with the company operating in Russia, the US, South Korea, China and Japan, the Korean giant has begun setting its sights on India with a new bottling deal.[note 5]

Jinro actually went bankrupt during the Asian crisis of 1997, at which point it was bought by the Hite Corporation.[note 6]

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