Korea launches regional brewery tour routes to boost traditional liquor tourism

South Korea has unveiled its first gourmet travel routes built around traditional liquor, taking visitors from apple wine in South Chungcheong Province to Jeju's millet-based gosoriul, with local produce and regional cuisine woven into each stop. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs is developing the routes around its nationwide "visiting brewery" program, positioning traditional Korean spirits as a flagship K-food tourism attraction.

The ministry announced Thursday that it had previewed the regional visiting-brewery gourmet tour courses for press and foreign influencers at Yesan Apple Wine in Yesan-gun, South Chungcheong Province, on Wednesday. The event marked the second installment of the "K-Gourmet Journey" series, following the K-Chicken Belt project introduced in June.

The visiting brewery program is a ministry-designated initiative to develop outstanding local breweries as tourism assets. Currently operating at 69 sites nationwide, it has established itself as an experiential tourism offering where visitors can tour facilities, sample traditional spirits and try their hand at brewing.

The newly unveiled tour courses go beyond simply listing breweries. Each route is built around regional representative breweries and designed to let visitors enjoy local produce, traditional food and nearby attractions in a single trip. The routes were developed with input from traditional liquor and tourism experts, local governments and industry, taking into account regional significance, the quality of hands-on programs, ties to local agriculture and transport accessibility.

Featured stops include Yesan Apple Wine, which uses apples grown in Yesan, South Chungcheong Province; Sinpyeong Brewery in Dangjin, which crafts its spirits from Haenaru rice and lotus leaves; the Han Yeong-seok Fermentation Research Institute in Jeongeup, North Jeolla Province, which carries on the techniques of a master traditional-yeast maker; and Gosoriul익는집 in Jeju, which brews from locally grown millet. Visitors can taste traditional spirits made from regional produce, take part in brewing experiences, and explore the local food culture, traditional cuisine and sights that define each area.

Foreign influencers who joined the tour responded positively. Lucero, 32, from Peru, said she enjoys discovering lesser-known cultural experiences in Korea and that the brewery tour gave her a deeper understanding of Korean traditional spirits. "I think experiences like this help connect different cultures," she said. Noemi Krausova, 35, from the Czech Republic, said she encountered a wide variety of Korean traditional spirits she had never tried before, and that the warmth of the brewery owners made it all the more memorable.

The ministry plans to make tour course information available through the Deosul.com website, the K-Chicken Belt homepage and the rural tourism portal Welchon, so domestic and international tourists can easily access travel details during the summer holiday season.

The ministry is also continuing efforts to broaden the consumer base for traditional spirits. This year it opened a new Traditional Liquor Gallery outlet at Doota Mall and is running pop-up stores at Yongsan Station and Daejeon Station in partnership with Korail. It is also supporting placement in Storyway convenience stores. Overseas, it is expanding the international profile of Korean spirits through a toast-drink project run in partnership with Korean diplomatic missions abroad.

Going forward, the ministry plans to work with local governments to continuously expand regional gourmet tourism routes linking breweries with representative local produce, traditional food, regional festivals and tourism products. Through these efforts, it aims to develop traditional Korean spirits into a signature K-food tourism attraction that blends local agriculture and culture.

Kim Jeong-uk, director general for agro-industry innovation policy at the ministry, said visiting breweries are "not simply places that make alcohol, but a concentrated expression of food culture that embodies our agricultural produce, local life and heritage." He added that the ministry would keep expanding content connecting traditional spirits, regional cuisine and tourism to drive local economic vitality and the globalization of K-food.