GS Retail to Discover 10 Traditional Liquors by 2022

Following 'Kkotbitseori', Part 2 'Bambitmeoru' Released

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] Convenience store GS25 is stepping up as a promotional partner for traditional liquors made by small-scale breweries nationwide.

GS Retail, which operates convenience store GS25 and supermarket GS The Fresh, announced on the 25th that starting from the 26th of this month, it will launch ‘Bambit Meru 360ml,’ a distilled liquor made using wild grape distillate.

Bambit Meru is a traditional liquor discovered through the nationwide offline store network. GS25’s traditional liquor discovery process begins by quarterly inquiries to sales staff who manage offline stores about traditional liquors that are popular regionally but not widely known nationwide. Recommended traditional liquors go through a tasting session with the in-house GS25 Traditional Liquor Discovery Team, and feedback is provided to product developers. Final selection is made after thorough review. Both the general public and experts participate in the evaluation process.

This year’s GS25 Traditional Liquor Discovery Team recommends Bambit Meru, a distilled liquor made by fermenting wild grapes grown in the clean area of Muju at an altitude of 500 meters and distilling the wine. It is produced as a 16.9-degree soju diluted with 3.8% of 45-degree original distillate through primary distillation. Only wild grapes harvested in October are used, and it features a smooth and subtle aroma with a clean aftertaste. The price is 2,900 KRW.

The product name Bambit Meru uses metaphor. Inspired by expressions like ‘wild grape-colored night sky’ in poetry or novels, where wild grapes are compared to the night, and since wild grapes are harvested in autumn and pair well with autumn nights, the traditional soju made from wild grapes was poetically named ‘Bambit Meru’ (Night Light Wild Grape).

The producing agricultural corporation, Sandeulbeot Brewery, offers various products made from wild grape wine and wild grape liquor fermented from wild grapes grown in high-altitude areas above 300 meters, as well as ingredients such as blueberries and Cheonma grown in Muju. Its flagship product, ‘Meru Iyagi’ (Wild Grape Story), won the Excellence Award in the fruit wine category at the 2013 Korea Traditional Liquor Competition.

GS Retail plans to continue promoting premium traditional liquors from regional breweries through a project to revive 10 local traditional liquors by the end of 2022. In fact, the traditional liquor ‘Kkotbit Seori’ (Flower Light Frost), first introduced in November last year, sold 20,000 bottles in just six days at GS25, and cumulative sales at GS25 and GS The Fresh have reached 400,000 bottles. GS Retail is actively supporting the sales of excellent local products and expanding distribution channels for breweries.

Han Gu-jong, GS Retail’s liquor MD, said, “We are exploring various ways to support regional breweries facing difficulties in securing sales channels due to the downturn in the face-to-face liquor market caused by COVID-19, and as a result, we are launching Bambit Meru. We will strive to promote and increase sales of Korea’s proud traditional liquors.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.