In the last few decades saké has grown to be more mainstream than soju within North America. Japanese sushi restaurants with saké all over the menu have are quite common in urban areas and in popular media. Korean restaurants, however, are also on the up and up as Korean culture makes it’s way to the best. The Korean made “Parasite” movie won best picture at the 2020 Oscars, the Korean band BTS has a sold out world tour across both the USA and Europe, and Blackpink is the number one subscribed to girl group on Spotify. As the culture of Korea moves West, so does its cuisine and drinking culture.
A very common question that people have about Soju is “What’s the difference between Soju and Saké?”. They’re both alcoholic drinks with four letters in their name that start with “s”, they both come from Asian countries, and their histories both involve rice, but that’s about as far as the similarities go.
1. Soju is Korean and Saké is Japanese
Soju originates in Korea (long before the divide between North and South Korea) and saké is a Japanese alcoholic drink. Japan has a distilled version of saké called “sho-chu” which is much more similar to soju, and Korea has a beverage similar to saké called “makgeolli” but that’s another story.
This is why when you go to a sushi restaurant (which are mainly Japanese) you’ll rarely see soju on the menu. Just like when you go to a Korean restaurant you’ll almost never see saké.
2. Soju is distilled and Saké is fermented
Within the alcohol creation process there are three main steps (for the alcohol aficionados I realize how extremely over-simplified this is):
- Ingredient preparation
- Ferment/Brew
- Distill
All Sojus are prepared using all three of these steps. The ingredients are chosen and prepared, the ingredients are the brewed, and then that brew is distilled to make Soju. Other examples of distilled beverages that undergo all three of these steps are vodka, whisky, and gin.
Sakés only undergo the first two steps above – it is never distilled. Other examples of brewed beverages which are comparable to saké are beer and wine.
Fun Fact – Some people call saké a “rice wine” but technically it’s closer to a “rice beer” because of the preparation methods. More on this in a later article.
3. Soju and Saké are Brewed using Different Microorganisms
After the ingredients for soju and saké are assembled, they must ferment in order to become alcoholic. After the grains are crushed the brewmasters add a bateria culture to ferment the sugars in the grain. For saké the bacteria culture that is used is called a “Koji” culture and for soju the bacteria culture is called a “Nuruk” culture. These differing cultures embed different tastes and aromas into the future brew.
4. Soju and Saké have Different Ranges of Alcohol Content
Different types of soju can range from 12.9% alcohol (fruit flavoured sojus sold by Jinro, Chum Churum, and Good Day) all the way up to 53% (premium Sojus from Hwayo, etc). As they are distilled beverages sojus can theoretically be as high percentage of alcohol as the distiller wants it to be.
Being that they don’t undergo the distillation process which is needed to raise the alcohol content past a certain point, sakés are normally between 15% and 20% abv.
5. Soju and Saké are Enjoyed Differently
Soju is typically drank in shots, either chilled or at room temperature. More premium Sojus are normally drank at room temperature to get a full experience of the taste.
Sakés are served in shots either at room temperature or warmed.
Apart from the surface similarities, these two alcohol beverages are as different as Vodka and Beer.
For a video breakdown of the difference between soju and saké with a few more details, see our video below.