By Matthew Fennell, Asia Society Korea Center's Contributing Writer

Korea is a country known for its rapid development and the capital Seoul is a city in which the landscape is forever changing. A walk down the street one Saturday afternoon can be totally different from the same walk two months earlier; new buildings pop up and businesses come and go like the wind. With this economic development has come an opening up to international culture especially in relation to food; whether you want your fix of Mexican wraps or are missing the spices of Middle Eastern cuisine, Korea has restaurants to cater for all tastes. While this is great news for all the “foodies” in town, the same cannot be said for people who like to enjoy a beer or glass of wine at the end of a difficult week. Put simply, Korea has not offered much in terms of choice of alcoholic beverage, and what international options that are available, come with a hefty price. But is this starting to change?

The Korean alcohol market has long been dominated by the “big two”, Hite-Jinro and Oriental Breweries (OB), who have a combined market share of over 90%. The dominance of the two companies can be attributed to taxes that reward economies of scale, licensing limits for low producing breweries and the high taxes levied on imported alcohol. However in the past 5 years we have seen a small but significant movement towards a more internationally orientation alcohol culture. Yes, Korean rice wine (Soju) and domestic beer still hold sway in the bars and restaurants of Seoul, but for those connoisseurs wanting an Indian Pale Ale (IPA) or a glass of French Sauvignon Blanc, the future looks bright with more and more establishments offering the chance to drink these beverages.

A number of factors have helped this “alcohol renaissance”, the biggest being those changes to regulations that for so long had prevented international brands from hitting the peninsular and which also made life very difficult for smaller local brewers wanting to produce their own recipes. The European Union - South Korea Free Trade Agreement that was signed in 2009 was a big step for not only importing international beer and wine but for consumers being able to buy them at reasonable prices. Before this it was only the wealthy who would indulge in the heavily inflated imported liquor prices. The opportunity for more Koreans to try international alcohol has led to a change in tastes and a preference for choices other than domestic beer and rice wine. Although this trade agreement was significant, it was the relaxing of regulations towards manufacturing of beer in 2011 that really opened the door to new Western-style craft beers being drank in Korea.

Before 2011, the law had stated that breweries had to produce over 1 million liters of beer annually to be granted a license, effectively closing the door to all but the two big brewers. This figure was reduced dramatically to 150,000 liters and with it a law that allowed breweries to sell their beer to other businesses. This opened up a whole host of opportunities for smaller companies who wanted to produce craft beer and in effect the Korean craft movement was born. Regulations were relaxed even further in 2014 when this figure was reduced to 50,000 liters a year and it was no coincidence that we saw an explosion of new breweries. Today, not only is it in the expat community of Itaewon that we can find good craft beer but in almost every neighborhood in Seoul one can drink in a “tap house.”

The craft beer movement still only accounts for than 1% of the market and government regulations remain tough but with rising affluence and a more international awareness among Koreans, we can hope to see more and more options open to those who like the occasional tipple. Most people acknowledge that Seoul is a great place to enjoy a wide range of food, let’s hope in the near future that we can be saying the same about beer and wine.