Take a bar crawl through Seoul, and you’ll likely find locally produced soju, beer, or, if you’re seeking something richer, imported Scotch for the traditionalists or Japanese single malt for the younger crowd. It’s only in recent decades that whisky has started to make its mark on Korea’s drinking scene, where the culture is often tied to culinary traditions and local ingredients. If you’re after locally crafted whisky, though, you’ll need to dig a little deeper.
In a world where the best-known whisky regions have a long sense of history, lineage, and legacy, others are just beginning their story. Kim Chang Soo is writing the first chapter. “Fifteen years ago when I decided to produce whisky in Korea, people laughed. At that time, no one even believed it was possible,” he recalls. The very absence of the whisky he loved in Korea became the motivation that spurred Kim to make it himself.
Korea’s natural and legal environment isn’t particularly conducive to whisky making. As with any good story, there are obstacles to overcome, from high taxes to cultural barriers, and even the land itself. Korea’s distinct climate, with extreme temperature swings (dropping to -20°C in winter and rising to 40°C in summer) is far from the mild, damp conditions of Scotland, typically associated with whisky ageing. The impact of Korea’s climate on whisky is still unknown, but Kim is hopeful. “It may work in our favour,” he notes.
The legal landscape offers less cause for optimism. Korea’s tax structure around alcohol is based on selling price rather than ABV, meaning that premium spirits made from quality ingredients incur higher taxes, contributing to a culture dominated by low-price, mass-produced drinks. Additionally, imported spirits are taxed less than those produced domestically, making it difficult for home-grown businesses to compete. As a result, Korean whisky isn’t readily available for the curious, and the cost is high for those interested.
For Kim, these were challenges to be faced head-on. Undeterred by the hostile environment and the lack of formal training opportunities, what he lacked in experience was made up for in determination. Over time, Kim worked across a variety of related industries — importing, distribution, marketing, sales, and bartending — gaining hands-on experience. But it wasn’t enough. “I enjoyed whisky but realised that without making it myself, I couldn’t grasp its essence. Only through the process of creating it could I fully understand and appreciate whisky.”
In 2014, inspired by a love of Islay’s peated whiskies, Kim set off on a nearly four-month trip around Scotland. With a second-hand bike and a tent, he travelled from one distillery to the next, across peat moors and through Scottish mist, knocking on the doors of each of the 102 malt distilleries in operation at the time. He was an apprentice in search of a master, but it wasn’t to be.
“In my youthful naivety, I thought that if I just showed up and asked, I might get the chance to learn the craft,” Kim reflects. “Like the main character of a movie, I hoped for some miraculous moment that would change my life. But, as it turns out, I wasn’t the protagonist of a movie. My limited English made it hard to communicate my determination, and without a visa, I couldn’t stay long enough to make real progress.”
Though no such apprenticeship materialised, the journey ended with a chance encounter. At a bar in Glasgow on his last evening, Kim happened to meet a member of the team from Japan’s Chichibu Distillery. An unexpected connection led to a week of training there, cementing Kim’s determination to create whisky back home in Korea.
Named after its founder, Kimchangsoo Distillery is a small but growing operation located just west of the Korean capital, Seoul. Initially, due to limited funds, the distillery was established with self-designed stills and facilities, which Kim ran single-handedly in the earliest years, until joined by a childhood friend. Taking inspiration from the distilleries of Islay, the focus is on smoky, peated flavours, with Korea’s intense climate introducing a new variable that has the potential to shape a distinctive style and sense of place.
“My initial experience shows that the interaction between wood and spirit happens much faster here,” Kim explains. The temperature fluctuations and humidity cause the whisky to expand and contract in the oak more dramatically, accelerating the extractive and evaporative drivers of the maturation process. “The angel’s share reaches around 10 per cent annually,” Kim notes, significantly higher than Scotland’s typical loss of two per cent per year. This faster evaporation hints at the potential for more rapid flavour development and concentration during a shorter ageing period. While more research is needed to fully understand the effects of Korea’s climate on whisky, Kim is excited by the early results.
At its core, Kimchangsoo Distillery follows the same whisky-making philosophies as traditional regions: quality ingredients and careful distillation. Kim and his small team have trialled both imported and Korean malted barley, as well as high-quality oloroso and PX sherry casks for a series of experimental single-cask releases aged for one year, one month, and 20 days, tapping into whisky enthusiasts’ eagerness to try ‘in progress’ products that show the evolution of the spirit.
This year, though, the distillery’s spirit officially comes of age, reaching the three-year mark. Kim is marketing this milestone with the launch of his distillery’s flagship whisky: Kimchangsoo Whisky Gimpo, a Korean single malt named after the distillery’s hometown. Lightly peated, this flagship single malt is a blend of nine casks aged between three years and one month to three years and seven months. Bottled at 50.1% ABV and released at cask strength, Kimchangsoo Whisky Gimpo reflects the distillery’s signature peated spirit style, shaped by the influence of Korea’s unique climate. Previous releases from the distillery have received positive feedback, with Whisky Magazine awarding an impressive score of 8.4 to the distillery’s Artist Edition, calling it “an excellent ‘old school Scotch’ style peated offering from Korea.”
Last year, Kimchangsoo secured investment to build a second distillery. “Ten years ago, I wanted to secure investment to make whisky, but no one was willing to take the risk,” Kim recalls. “I had to prove it was possible, so I started with the little money I had saved, hoping that if I created a great whisky, investment would eventually follow. It’s similar to the hope that if you make a great indie film with just a smartphone, you might get the chance to produce a commercial film. Now we’re preparing to build a larger distillery in Andong, with more freedom and possibilities.”
Until then, Kimchangsoo Whisky Gimpo offers us a glimpse into what the future chapters might hold for Korean single malt whisky.
Business enquiries may be directed to: official@kimchangsoodistillery.com
