On June 24th, the industry reported that Evan Williams, which has been exclusively sold in Korea by Shinsegae L&B since 2021, was the best-selling product for the company in the previous year. This achievement can be credited to the rising trend of mixology, which involves mixing beverages, fruits, and other ingredients with drinks such as whiskey and highball. While Evan Williams is more commonly used in highball cocktails, rather than being consumed on its own, it has gained significant recognition in this market.
Evan Williams is a renowned bourbon whiskey brand from the United States, ranking as the second best-selling product both domestically and internationally. It is named after the pioneer of bourbon whiskey, Evan Williams, who opened Kentucky’s first commercial distillery.
According to a representative from Shinsegae L&B, Evan Williams was the best-selling brand with a 144% increase in sales from the previous year. In 2022, its sales skyrocketed by 615% compared to its launch year in 2021. The official further stated that Evan Williams achieved impressive sales without much marketing effort and was the top-selling product out of over 1,600 items in the past year.
The increase in consumption is in line with the rise of the whiskey industry in Korea. The Korea Customs Service’s data on import and export trade shows that there was a 13.1% increase in whiskey imports last year, amounting to 30,586 tons. This is the highest recorded amount since 2000 when the statistics were first collected. Of all the types of whiskey, bourbon saw the biggest growth at 30.9%, with 2,607 tons imported.
Evan Williams received even more recognition after BTS’s Jungkook gave it his endorsement. In the previous year, Jungkook promoted Evan Williams as a great whiskey to enjoy with a highball on the fan community platform Weverse, earning it the nickname “Jungkook’s whiskey”.
Shinsegae L&B has recently launched three new flavored whiskeys (Apple, Honey, Fire) to keep up with the growing trend of whiskey popularity, alongside their popular Evan Williams Black. They have announced their plans to further expand their line with upcoming flavors such as Peach and Cherry in the coming year.
In an effort to increase the appeal of Evan Williams, Shinsegae Food has integrated it into their menu. Their pub Devil’s Door debuted a high-volume Evan Williams highball last year and has just added six new highball options (Original Black, Sangria, Honey Grapefruit Whiskey, Apple, Fire Cock, and Honey Beer).
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