Readers, get comfy and let’s revisit the Seoul International Wine & Spirits Exhibition (SIWS)! We’re still reeling from the excitement of the annual event held in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea, since 1992. The 2024 edition featured over 240 exhibitors and attracted tens of dozens of buyers and thousands of attendees from various countries. This three-day event included seminars, countless samples, and engaging exhibits, highlighting significant trends and innovations in wines and beers. The diverse, multilingual atmosphere made it a dynamic and educational experience for all participants. You can read more about my friend and colleague’s CoolHappyTash’s experience with the beverage spirits and settle in with me over wines and beers.
Freshly minted as a Level 1 Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) awardee, this experience was a celebration of unbelievable scale. I mean this both figuratively and literally, as I cannot put into simple words how massive this event was. Hall A, where the event took place, measures well over 30 feet (10.368㎡) in length. I’d been within the hall for Seoul Comic Con 2018 but that event was nothing in size compared to this! For as far as the eye could see, there were drinks and exhibit stands, and merchandise and enthusiastic consumers. I was in heaven in one of my most favorite places in the world.
Credit: COEX Center
Before the first day of the event, however, I went on a mission to find South Korean wines “in the wild.” I’m familiar with soju, baekseju, makegeolli, and other beverages from the country but I was looking for something more along the lines of a bottle I’d get from somewhere like Total Wine & More. With my husband in tow, we found a wine shop at Lotte World Tower and marveled at the collection but there wasn’t a specific South Korean wine. According to some research within the industry, grape-based wine in South Korea is experiencing a growth spurt. Perhaps there would be some options at the Expo?
When we made it through check-in and entered the event, conversations engulfed us. The predominant languages spoken were Korean and English, but we experienced distributors, buyers, and general consumers expressing themselves in Japanese, Mandarin, Lithuanian, and even Georgian. South Korea is a special place for many people, and one I call a second home in my heart, but after all my time living and visiting there, this was the first time I was surrounded by such a diverse group of communicators. This surpassed past KCONs, where most of us non-native Korean language speakers were able to get by with K-drama lines and K-pop lyrics; and definitely gave me more than occasional interactions with other non-Koreans who had lived in the country long enough to communicate well when I was living there. If this is what the collegiate experience is like in Seoul, then I truly missed out with being a remote learner at Yonsei!
“Alright, it’s time to get to work. Let’s go to this wi– oh, there’s Tiger Beer over there!” My husband shook his head and grinned as I darted through the crowds to get to the Singaporean brand’s huge booth. It was adjacent to Heineken Asia Pacific, its current producer, and is revered as Singapore’s first beer.
Tiger Beer, and several others, were spotlighting their radler selections. Although the name of this type of beverage changes in various countries, this type of beer is traditionally mixed with a lemon-flavored beverage. Tiger Beer had the traditional style, as well as a grapefruit option. The radler, and overall beer experience however, that blew me away was from Lithuania.
A friendly welcome and generous pour from the Gubernija team was provided of each of their selections and I was in love. The flavors were robust and smooth. My husband especially liked their radlers and I was eager to bring their pilsner home! Unfortunately, the beer isn’t widely available in North America, but I’ll never forget learning that theirs is one of the oldest businesses in the world, having been founded in 1665.
Gubernija has English on one side of their cans and their native language on the other. I was very impressed by this and it made me realize that I don’t know how often I see things with more than one language on them because I can understand more than one. Had my mind fully blocked out that soju bottles are predominantly in English and Korean because I can read Hangul? Or what about the Mexican beer Dos Equis and the obvious Spanish that’s on the bottle? It’s amazing what the mind can do and how it can trick a person into being shocked by something they regularly see. Perhaps it was Gubernija choosing two different double-sided designs that made this stand out so much to me. Whatever it was, I’m still impressed!
We explored wines and beers from several other countries, including Spain, Greece, Georgia, and countless distributors.
There was even a booth with traditional South Korean rice wine that was wonderfully flavored. The bottles were tall and slender, displaying the distilled wine in vodka-clear to a tinted yellow. On my next long visit, I hope to find many of these options again. Some simply aren’t worth the struggle of shipping overseas!
The most unexpected thing in this world of wine, however, was the afternoon of the final day of the expo, as my husband and I made it to the DMZ and saw North Korean wine. Their wines have a higher alcohol level content (ALC) percentage than everything I came across in South Korea, so I was very shocked by this. I did not purchase nor consume any of it, but definitely took pictures to learn more. Since wine can be made from grapes, other fruits, and even flowers, I found it interesting that theirs is more focused on other-fruits than grapes. I won’t speculate about why, but this creates differences in the color and mouth feel of their wines.
This expo is one I highly recommend for fans of this side of the food and beverage industry. I learned so much and know to be more prepared with deeper questions if I ever attend again. I especially thank Kcrush for the opportunity to cover the event and reflect on the experience after hurricane Beryl impacted my area of the United States. Soon, I’ll have more to share with you about wine and my other love – K-pop. Please anticipate!
Ashley Griffin-Borjon, Host & Historian
Ashley is a content creator, educator, and public speaker. As an authority on the Hallyu phenomenon, she has collaborated on projects and events with various domestic and international companies and brands as a music historian. As the host of An Album a Day, she leads an English-language podcast promoting commentary on South Korean pop music. Learn more about her at https://meetashley.carrd.co/
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