Chug it with kick: Oriental Brewery appeals with stronger alcohol, extra coldness

Oriental Brewery's booth for Cass is crowded during the Daegu Chimac Festival at Daegu Duryu Park, July 9. Chimac is a Korean acronym for chicken and beer. Newsis

Oriental Brewery's promotional poster for Cass Lemon Squeeze 7.0 / Courtesy of Oriental Brewery

Oriental Brewery (OB) is fueling the country’s beer market with its latest products that offer stronger alcohol content and extra cooling sensation, driving a new consumer trend amid ongoing summer heat.

For over a decade, the company, which has dominated the Korean market with its Cass brand, has focused on releasing drinks with low alcohol concentrations. It is now attempting to reverse that trend, targeting consumers who prefer stronger alcoholic beverages, drink less in quantity and spend less overall.

The company earlier this month launched Cass Fresh ICE in a limited quantity for the summer season, claiming the new beverage has a cooling sensation no other OB products have.

Last month, the company also released Cass Lemon Squeeze 7.0, with an alcohol by volume (ABV) of 7 percent, up from its usual 4.5 percent. Their pop-up store for Lemon Squeeze 7.0 in Seoul’s trendy Seongsu-dong area drew over 12,000 visitors in 10 days.

OB said this product was a measure to target consumers with diversified tastes in alcoholic beverages. The product’s recipe included not just the alcohol boost but also an Italian lemon extract, appealing to younger consumers who have ushered in mixology culture to the domestic liquor market.

The company last month also released a new ad campaign for its premium beer brand, Hanmac, focusing on its creamy foam and smooth flavor.

“Hot summer is a perfect season for people to try new beer tastes. Our latest editions have taken into account the consumers’ most outstanding preferences,” an Oriental Brewery official said.

One of the latest buzzwords in the domestic liquor market is “alcohol concentration.”

For the past several years, consumers in their 20s and 30s have been choosing products with low alcohol content across all alcohol types — from soju to whisky, makgeolli (Korean rice wine), highballs and beer.

Soju, originally 25 percent ABV in the 1970s, was diluted to below 20 percent starting in the 2000s, and more recent trends have produced highballs and liqueurs between 5 and 14 percent ABV, which have been a long-running hit.

Such trends have significantly shaped the consumer market. They were largely attributed to younger consumers’ tendency to avoid binge-drinking gatherings — where irresponsible drinking is often encouraged — and enjoy alcohol in a healthier manner.

Industry officials say a preference for low ABV is still dominates here, but there is growing demand for stronger alcohol. This is in line with the recent trend of domestic consumers seeking cheaper products amid scaled-up food market prices. Consumers now want to spend less while getting equally tipsy, which leads them to purchase stronger products.

At the same time, younger consumers started demanding more variety in alcohol products as mixology emerged as a keyword in the domestic liquor industry, prompting liquor makers to experiment with new concoctions.

HanWool & Jeju, a craft beer company based in Jeju Island, in April released its Beer Ball with a 13 percent ABV, way above ordinary highball products.

"Summer has always been a high season for beer. This year, the demand is expected to be higher than before because sweltering temperatures have come earlier than last year," an industry official said.