{"id":252400,"date":"2026-03-23T17:24:33","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T08:24:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/uncategorized\/2026\/03\/23\/discover-award-winning-traditional-liquor-deep\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T16:29:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T07:29:27","slug":"discover-award-winning-traditional-liquor-deep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/food\/2026\/03\/23\/discover-award-winning-traditional-liquor-deep\/","title":{"rendered":"Discover the Award-Winning ‘\uc228\uc740\uace8’ Traditional Liquor: A Deep Dive into Korea’s Best Sake and Yakju of 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Translation result. <\/p>\n

[iNews24 Reporter Park Jong-su] The Sumeungol traditional liquor series from agricultural corporation Community Space Sujak Co., Ltd. (CEO Lee Jin-young), based in Dongsang-myeon, Wanju County, North Jeolla Province, South Korea, proved the excellence of Wanju\u2019s fermented liquors by sweeping the top awards in the takju (cloudy rice wine) and yakju (refined rice wine) categories at the 2026 Korea Liquor Awards.<\/p>\n

Now in its 13th year, the Korea Liquor Awards\u2014launched in 2014\u2014is the country\u2019s premier spirits competition. It seeks out outstanding domestic drinks, promotes them widely, and supports a healthy drinking culture.<\/p>\n

\" 
  Wanju traditional liquor Sumeungol series [Photo: Wanju County]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the competition, Sumeungol 12 (takju) and Sumeungol 16 (yakju) took top honors. They marry traditional methods using local ingredients with modern brewing techniques to deliver deep, refined flavors. Notably, Sumeungol 16 claimed the top prize for the third year in a row, reaffirming the cultural and culinary value of traditional fermented liquors.<\/p>\n

Community Space Sujak developed the distillation-style soju Nabi Series using Bongdong ginger, a local specialty. The company also plans to run hands-on programs at a newly opened experience center where visitors can try making various makgeolli (Korean rice beer) and distillation-style soju.<\/p>\n

Lee Jin-young, CEO of Community Space Sujak, said, “Combining Wanju\u2019s traditions with modern brewing techniques allowed us to craft high-quality spirits. We plan to promote the fading home-brewing (gayangju) culture, boost local tourism, and use this award as a springboard to strengthen the distillery\u2019s move toward self-sufficiency.”<\/p>\n

Yoo Pyeong-gi, head of the Rural Support Division, said, “We\u2019re proud that our region\u2019s premium traditional liquors continue to earn strong praise and recognition. We will pursue a range of initiatives to make the traditional liquor industry a stable market for Wanju rice and to revitalize the local economy through closer collaboration between agriculture and brewing.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The ‘Hidden Valley’ traditional liquor series from Jeonbuk’s Gongdong Space Sujak won top awards at the 2026 Korea Liquor Awards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/contents-cdn.viewus.co.kr\/image\/2026\/03\/CP-2023-0087\/image-307ee450-c681-4643-977f-c5831238801c.jpeg","footnotes":""},"categories":[278098],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-252400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food"],"yoast_head":"\nDiscover the Award-Winning '\uc228\uc740\uace8' Traditional Liquor: A Deep Dive into Korea's Best Sake and Yakju of 2026<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The 'Hidden Valley' traditional liquor series from Jeonbuk's Gongdong Space Sujak won top awards at the 2026 Korea Liquor Awards.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/food\/2026\/03\/23\/discover-award-winning-traditional-liquor-deep\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ko_KR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Discover the Award-Winning '\uc228\uc740\uace8' Traditional Liquor: A Deep Dive into Korea's Best Sake and Yakju of 2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The 'Hidden Valley' traditional liquor series from Jeonbuk's Gongdong Space Sujak won top awards at the 2026 Korea Liquor Awards.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/food\/2026\/03\/23\/discover-award-winning-traditional-liquor-deep\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"nonhyeon-ilbo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-23T08:24:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-15T07:29:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/CP-2023-0087-35838199_thumb.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1198\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"\uac1c\ubc1c\uae30\ud68d\ud300\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/food\/2026\/03\/23\/discover-award-winning-traditional-liquor-deep\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/food\/2026\/03\/23\/discover-award-winning-traditional-liquor-deep\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\uac1c\ubc1c\uae30\ud68d\ud300\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/b2265094fd34d8bb5cfbaf6040fa17d3\"},\"headline\":\"Discover the Award-Winning ‘\uc228\uc740\uace8’ Traditional Liquor: A Deep Dive into Korea’s Best Sake and Yakju of 2026\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-23T08:24:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-15T07:29:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/food\/2026\/03\/23\/discover-award-winning-traditional-liquor-deep\/\"},\"wordCount\":319,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/food\/2026\/03\/23\/discover-award-winning-traditional-liquor-deep\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/contents-cdn.viewus.co.kr\/image\/2026\/03\/CP-2023-0087\/image-307ee450-c681-4643-977f-c5831238801c.jpeg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Food\"],\"inLanguage\":\"ko-KR\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/food\/2026\/03\/23\/discover-award-winning-traditional-liquor-deep\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/food\/2026\/03\/23\/discover-award-winning-traditional-liquor-deep\/\",\"name\":\"Discover the Award-Winning '\uc228\uc740\uace8' Traditional Liquor: A Deep Dive into Korea's Best Sake and Yakju of 2026\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/food\/2026\/03\/23\/discover-award-winning-traditional-liquor-deep\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/food\/2026\/03\/23\/discover-award-winning-traditional-liquor-deep\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/contents-cdn.viewus.co.kr\/image\/2026\/03\/CP-2023-0087\/image-307ee450-c681-4643-977f-c5831238801c.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-23T08:24:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-15T07:29:27+00:00\",\"description\":\"The 'Hidden Valley' traditional liquor series from Jeonbuk's Gongdong Space Sujak won top awards at the 2026 Korea Liquor Awards.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/food\/2026\/03\/23\/discover-award-winning-traditional-liquor-deep\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"ko-KR\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/food\/2026\/03\/23\/discover-award-winning-traditional-liquor-deep\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"ko-KR\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/food\/2026\/03\/23\/discover-award-winning-traditional-liquor-deep\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/contents-cdn.viewus.co.kr\/image\/2026\/03\/CP-2023-0087\/image-307ee450-c681-4643-977f-c5831238801c.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/contents-cdn.viewus.co.kr\/image\/2026\/03\/CP-2023-0087\/image-307ee450-c681-4643-977f-c5831238801c.jpeg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/food\/2026\/03\/23\/discover-award-winning-traditional-liquor-deep\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"\ud648\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Food\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/category\/food\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Discover the Award-Winning ‘\uc228\uc740\uace8’ Traditional Liquor: A Deep Dive into Korea’s Best Sake and Yakju of 2026\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/\",\"name\":\"nonhyeon-ilbo\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/#organization\"},\"alternateName\":\"nonhyeon-ilbo\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"ko-KR\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/#organization\",\"name\":\"nonhyeon-ilbo\",\"alternateName\":\"nonhyeon-ilbo\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"ko-KR\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cdn.tenbizt.com\/tenbizt\/2026\/02\/05114330\/mvp-org-logo-696x696-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.tenbizt.com\/tenbizt\/2026\/02\/05114330\/mvp-org-logo-696x696-1.jpg\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"nonhyeon-ilbo\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/b2265094fd34d8bb5cfbaf6040fa17d3\",\"name\":\"\uac1c\ubc1c\uae30\ud68d\ud300\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/author\/fastmaster\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Discover the Award-Winning '\uc228\uc740\uace8' Traditional Liquor: A Deep Dive into Korea's Best Sake and Yakju of 2026","description":"The 'Hidden Valley' traditional liquor series from Jeonbuk's Gongdong Space Sujak won top awards at the 2026 Korea Liquor Awards.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/food\/2026\/03\/23\/discover-award-winning-traditional-liquor-deep\/","og_locale":"ko_KR","og_type":"article","og_title":"Discover the Award-Winning '\uc228\uc740\uace8' Traditional Liquor: A Deep Dive into Korea's Best Sake and Yakju of 2026","og_description":"The 'Hidden Valley' traditional liquor series from Jeonbuk's Gongdong Space Sujak won top awards at the 2026 Korea Liquor Awards.","og_url":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/food\/2026\/03\/23\/discover-award-winning-traditional-liquor-deep\/","og_site_name":"nonhyeon-ilbo","article_published_time":"2026-03-23T08:24:33+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-15T07:29:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1198,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/CP-2023-0087-35838199_thumb.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"\uac1c\ubc1c\uae30\ud68d\ud300","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/food\/2026\/03\/23\/discover-award-winning-traditional-liquor-deep\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/food\/2026\/03\/23\/discover-award-winning-traditional-liquor-deep\/"},"author":{"name":"\uac1c\ubc1c\uae30\ud68d\ud300","@id":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/b2265094fd34d8bb5cfbaf6040fa17d3"},"headline":"Discover the Award-Winning ‘\uc228\uc740\uace8’ Traditional Liquor: A Deep Dive into Korea’s Best Sake and Yakju of 2026","datePublished":"2026-03-23T08:24:33+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-15T07:29:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/food\/2026\/03\/23\/discover-award-winning-traditional-liquor-deep\/"},"wordCount":319,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/food\/2026\/03\/23\/discover-award-winning-traditional-liquor-deep\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/contents-cdn.viewus.co.kr\/image\/2026\/03\/CP-2023-0087\/image-307ee450-c681-4643-977f-c5831238801c.jpeg","articleSection":["Food"],"inLanguage":"ko-KR"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/food\/2026\/03\/23\/discover-award-winning-traditional-liquor-deep\/","url":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/food\/2026\/03\/23\/discover-award-winning-traditional-liquor-deep\/","name":"Discover the Award-Winning '\uc228\uc740\uace8' Traditional Liquor: A Deep Dive into Korea's Best Sake and Yakju of 2026","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/food\/2026\/03\/23\/discover-award-winning-traditional-liquor-deep\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/food\/2026\/03\/23\/discover-award-winning-traditional-liquor-deep\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/contents-cdn.viewus.co.kr\/image\/2026\/03\/CP-2023-0087\/image-307ee450-c681-4643-977f-c5831238801c.jpeg","datePublished":"2026-03-23T08:24:33+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-15T07:29:27+00:00","description":"The 'Hidden Valley' traditional liquor series from Jeonbuk's Gongdong Space Sujak won top awards at the 2026 Korea Liquor Awards.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/food\/2026\/03\/23\/discover-award-winning-traditional-liquor-deep\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"ko-KR","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/food\/2026\/03\/23\/discover-award-winning-traditional-liquor-deep\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"ko-KR","@id":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/food\/2026\/03\/23\/discover-award-winning-traditional-liquor-deep\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/contents-cdn.viewus.co.kr\/image\/2026\/03\/CP-2023-0087\/image-307ee450-c681-4643-977f-c5831238801c.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/contents-cdn.viewus.co.kr\/image\/2026\/03\/CP-2023-0087\/image-307ee450-c681-4643-977f-c5831238801c.jpeg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/food\/2026\/03\/23\/discover-award-winning-traditional-liquor-deep\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\ud648","item":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Food","item":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/category\/food\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Discover the Award-Winning ‘\uc228\uc740\uace8’ Traditional Liquor: A Deep Dive into Korea’s Best Sake and Yakju of 2026"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/","name":"nonhyeon-ilbo","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/#organization"},"alternateName":"nonhyeon-ilbo","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"ko-KR"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/#organization","name":"nonhyeon-ilbo","alternateName":"nonhyeon-ilbo","url":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"ko-KR","@id":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cdn.tenbizt.com\/tenbizt\/2026\/02\/05114330\/mvp-org-logo-696x696-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.tenbizt.com\/tenbizt\/2026\/02\/05114330\/mvp-org-logo-696x696-1.jpg","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"nonhyeon-ilbo"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/b2265094fd34d8bb5cfbaf6040fa17d3","name":"\uac1c\ubc1c\uae30\ud68d\ud300","url":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/author\/fastmaster\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252400"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252400\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}