Seoul, South Korea, is seeing a boom in the craft beer industry. Beer has long been a key ingredient of mixed drinks in South Korea, but since the pandemic hit, consumers are turning to more diverse and unique flavors of craft beer.

Craft beer sales have been increasing as a growing number of people work from home and continue social distancing and those people prefer more diverse and tasty beers to existing mass-marketed lagers and ales.

“Before the pandemic, I used to go to bars to have beer with my clients or friends after work. I recently found craft beer tasty and came to enjoy a diverse range of craft beer at my place,” Uni Park, a 32-year-old exhibition planner in Seoul, said.

In the last 20 months, young adults between 24-35 years have created a culture of enjoying craft beer purchased at convenience stores while watching Netflix movies and series at their homes.

“Imported beer brands became popular in 2015 and 2016, as they provided ale and other diverse beer products. But in recent years, people preferred freshly brewed and even diverse local craft beer to imported beer, which underwent the brewing process sometime before shipment,” said Kim Jin-man, a general manager at the Korea Craft Brewers Association (KCBA).

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