Hitejinro's Chamisul won "Best of 2026" in the soju category at the 2026 Korea Wine & Spirits Awards.
The Korea Wine & Spirits Awards is Korea's leading comprehensive liquor competition, now in its 13th year. With the goal of "discovering good domestic liquors and promoting them widely, and supporting the formation of a sound drinking culture," ChosunBiz has hosted it annually since 2014.
This year's event saw 260 companies submit a total of 1,118 brands. It is the largest among domestic competitions that cover all types of liquor. Among them, 449 brands received the grand prize.
Hitejinro launched Chamisul in 1998, sharply changing the course of Korea's soju market. As of Feb. this year, cumulative sales of Chamisul reached 42.3 billion bottles (based on 360 ml). By simple calculation, that translates to about 49 bottles sold per second.
These results show that Chamisul has moved beyond being the "national soju" to secure a dominant position in the global spirits market. In fact, the U.K. liquor trade magazine "Drinks International" tallied that Chamisul has ranked No. 1 in global spirits sales for 24 consecutive years since 2001, ahead of whiskey, vodka, rum and others.
Chamisul is also actively expanding brand touchpoints through collaborations with K-content. In 2025, it unveiled a special edition in collaboration with the Netflix drama "Squid Game," selling out within five weeks of launch. Related merchandise, such as drinking game machines using the drama's characters, also drew significant consumer interest.
Its partnership with IU, the longest-running model in the liquor industry, is continuing. Since first partnering with IU in 2014, Chamisul produced the industry's first fashion magazine pictorial in 2020 and in 2021 released collaboration merchandise with a jewelry brand that featured IU as a model. Observers said the effort went beyond simple sales promotion by combining IU's clean and refreshing image with the brand's identity.