Light and Refreshing: Hite Jinro Expands Low-Calorie and Non-Alcoholic Lineup This Chuseok Season!

Hite Jinro is targeting the second-half liquor market with four new products: the low-calorie soju Jinro Light, bottled versions of the non-alcoholic beer Terra Zero, the slush-style draft beer Terra Slush Saeng, and the fruit sparkling drink Terra Sparkling.

Jinro Light is a limited-edition release with 25 percent fewer calories than the original Jinro soju. Marketed as the lowest-calorie soju available in South Korea, it has an alcohol content of 11.7 percent and comes in a 360-milliliter bottle under a zero-sugar concept. The packaging features the brand's signature toad character spinning a hula hoop.

Terra Zero, which launched in cans in March, has since added 330-milliliter and 500-milliliter bottle formats. The product uses Australian clean malt extract and is built around a "real zero" formula that eliminates alcohol, calories, sugar and sweeteners. Hite Jinro's beverage unit introduced Hite Zero 0.00 in 2012 and followed up with Terra Zero in March, pursuing a two-track strategy to broaden consumer choice.

Terra Slush Saeng reimagines Terra's 100-percent real-carbonation draft beer in slush form. Its ice foam, chilled to minus 7 degrees Celsius, keeps the drink cold for up to about 60 minutes. A proprietary Terra Slush Saeng maker was developed in-house to improve particle quality and longevity. The product drew strong consumer interest during a pilot run at the Magok MCT Festival in June, and has been available since July at major resort destinations including Busan and Sokcho, outdoor festivals, and key commercial districts nationwide. It was also featured at the Hongcheon River Starlight Music Beer Festival, held Aug. 5–9.

Terra Sparkling is a limited-edition seasonal fruit sparkling drink based on Spanish white wine, available in three varieties — tomato, lemon and watermelon. The tomato and watermelon versions each carry an alcohol content of 4.6 percent, while the lemon variety comes in at 7 percent. Each variant's packaging uses colors drawn from the character of its respective fruit.