8 Jinro Soju Flavors, Ranked Worst To Best

From K-Pop to gochujang to kimchi, bulgogi, and Korean fried chicken, today's global audiences are embracing Korean culture — especially Korean food — with an ever-growing enthusiasm. As Korea's most popular drink, soju is an ideal complement to popular Korean dishes and an enjoyable way to further explore Korean flavors. As you expand your culinary repertoire, it's worth learning how to drink soju. Served cold and taken as a shot or sipped neat, it rounds out a night of Korean barbecue perfectly. It's a neutral spirit, so it also makes a great mixer for soju cocktails. Its neutral flavor makes it an easy swap for vodka in many classic drinks, but with about half the alcohol content.

Soju has been a traditional drink in Korea for centuries, where it was traditionally made with rice until the 1950's when laws restricting the use of rice for alcohol production led many companies to use alternative grains, a practice that continues today. Jincheon Brewing Company has been making Jinro soju since the company's founding in 1924 and has grown steadily ever since. Today, Jinro dominates the worldwide soju market, selling 95.3 million cases in 2020 and outpacing its next competitor almost three times over. They now sell nine different varieties of soju, including three classic unflavored soju, higher-proof Jinro 24 intended for cocktail mixing, and five fruit-flavored versions.

We tried each regular-proof flavor except Jinro 24 to see how they stack up and determine which is the best flavor of Jinro soju to elevate your next Korean dinner or night out at the noraebang.

Of the five fruit-flavored sojus Jinro producers, peach ranks last. Its eighth place rank isn't because of any great flaws, but because other flavors simply outperform it. The peach flavor is strong with a sharp aroma that still doesn't quite balance out the boozy scent or alcohol flavor. That's surprising since all the fruit flavors are an identical 13% ABV, yet Jinro Peach tastes more alcoholic than the others. Perhaps it's to be blamed on youthful days of mixing peach schnapps into sugary monstrosities and the ragged mornings that follow, but if you ask me, Peach Jinro is not the best offering in Jinro's lineup. It is rather pleasant in a creamy cocktail and could marry nicely with lemonade or a soju mule. It might also work in an iced tea drink or other summertime libation. However, the options for mixing peach are limited, marking it as a less versatile option. Furthermore, when sipped on its own, it's overly sweet, and the flavor feels punchy and unsophisticated. These reasons combined contribute to its last place ranking.

Full disclosure: I adore grapefruit. Grapefruit isn't for everyone, but for those of us who like it, there's no substitute. Despite my affinity for grapefruit, Jinro Grapefruit still squeaks in at seventh (nearly last) in these rankings. Jinro Grapefruit tastes like a real, fresh, and juicy grapefruit, which earns it points, and it would be beautiful in citrusy cocktails that make use of blood orange and bitter flavors like tonic.

However, it ranks seventh because grapefruit has such a distinctive flavor that it would be difficult to pair with a broad range of drinks and thus is limited in its versatility. Served straight, it's very astringent on the tongue, so it has an almost drying mouthfeel, making it a bit tough to drink for more than a small quantity — even for someone who enjoys grapefruit. Additionally, many people don't care for grapefruit at all, making this a less crowd-pleasing option for drinking with friends. It beats Jinro Peach because it is a more subtle, more realistic fruit flavor that would add interest and complexity to cocktails or act as a refreshing sipper when served straight.

Jinro Strawberry is another 13% ABV fruit-flavored member of the Jinro family. It has a very light aroma and a mild strawberry flavor. It has some hints of floral notes instead of purely berry fruit, and it never strays into tasting fake. It's very juicy and sweet but never gets syrupy. Like Peach Soju, it could be a difficult flavor to mix into cocktails and would likely shine in many of the same concoctions: a soju mule, a creamy yogurt cocktail, or a berry soju lemonade. It may also be difficult to pair it with savory foods since strawberry is not a common flavor in Korean cuisine except desserts. Jinro Strawberry beats out Peach and Grapefruit because it's very tasty to drink straight, with a nice balance of sweetness and almost no astringency or alcohol burn. One could easily sip this flavor straight all night long and not tire of it. It ranks sixth because it shares many of the drawbacks of peach and grapefruit, but it tastes better on its own.

In a world full of neon purple artificial-tasting grape food products, Jinro Green Grape stands out as a gorgeous alternative. The flavor is similar to Kasugai muscat gummies: sweet, jammy, and refreshing. It tastes like grapes, but one of the grape varietals that's so sweet it almost tastes like candy. Green Grape clocks in with the same 13% alcohol content as the other fruit flavors, and like the rest of them, it slips down without a whiff of burning. Jinro Green Grape has a thicker mouthfeel than the other fruit flavors, so it feels heavier, fuller, and more robust. It might also be a challenge to mix into cocktails but since it's tantalizing on its own, that scored Jinro Green Grape enough points to move up in the ranking nonetheless. Green Grape is also likely to be a crowd-pleaser since it's unique and more surprising than strawberry and feels more complex than the peach flavor. Its fabulous solo qualities, coupled with broad appeal, earn it its number five ranking.

Jinro Chamisul Original is a neutral, unflavored soju and the only one on this list with a 20.1% ABV, making it the highest alcohol flavor on the list. Despite its higher alcohol content, there still isn't much burn to it. Indeed, it goes down easy like a very smooth, very light, and clean vodka. There's the barest hint of sweetness that's not sugary; it's subtle, with a slight flavor of grain and an alcoholic bite. This one is excellent on its own and would also shine when mixed into cocktails. Its flavor is unimposing enough to pair like a breeze with any soda, juice, or other mixer, and its higher alcohol content means it will stand up well against the other ingredients. It ranks fourth because while all three of the unflavored soju options are equally flexible as cocktail ingredients, Chamisul Original is the harshest of the three to drink straight. Don't get me wrong, though; it is still extremely smooth; it's just not quite as smooth as the others, owing to its higher ABV.

Launched in 2019, Jinro Is Back is Jinro's retro throwback to its original recipe and packaging. Over its more than 100-year history, Jinro has made adjustments to its soju and its look, and Jinro Is Back is an homage to that history. Flavorwise, there's very little difference between Chamisul Fresh and Jinro Is Back. Both are very neutral, with an identical 16.5% ABV and an extremely similar flavor profile. Jinro itself isn't clear on the difference between Jinro Is Back and other unflavored varieties. If pressed to find differences, Jinro Is Back is slightly more drying on the tongue, a little more bitter at the start, then mouth-watering and light at the end. It has the same advantages as the other unflavored Jinro soju: It is neutral and will mix effortlessly into any cocktail, while its smooth, subtle flavor makes for a pleasant, easy-to-drink shot on its own. It gets additional points for nostalgia and for its packaging: a lovely blue bottle overflowing with retro charm. It's ever so slightly less smooth than Jinro Fresh, but it does grow on you as you drink it. It ranks third because it's pretty flawless, but it's difficult to tell why it's significantly different or better than Jinro Fresh.

Without a doubt, Jinro Plum is the best of the fruit flavors. It's highly aromatic with an enchanting, floral plum scent. The flavor is sweet but delicate and complex with fruit and floral notes harmonizing in the soju. It sits mellow and juicy on the tongue. It feels unique and special, something totally out of the ordinary. Jinro Plum would excel as a mixer since it has a lot of depth, and its unusual qualities would add interest to cocktails and help elevate your drinks to new heights. This flavor would also complement Korean foods more easily than other fruit flavors since plum is a more common ingredient for Korean cooking. Lastly, Jinro Plum is gorgeous on its own. It doesn't need anything but a glass. It delights in a way that unique foods do, and because it's different, it stands out as the top fruit flavor and the second-ranked flavor overall.

Chamisul Fresh is Jinro's most popular soju flavor and an obvious choice for top ranking. Popularity isn't everything, of course, but Chamisul Fresh has a number of factors working in its favor. It hits the sweet spot of alcoholic content at 16.5% ABV, not as strong as a spirit like vodka but stronger than beer and many wines. That makes it appropriate for drinking straight or mixing, and the taste is lovely, whichever option you choose. It's very neutral and clean without a strong overpowering flavor. It's exceptionally easy to drink — in fact, it could be quite easy to over imbibe Chamisul Fresh. There's almost no burn on the throat or chest, just a slight tingle on the lips and gentle warming in the belly as it goes down. Since it has such a light flavor, it could easily go into any soju cocktail from soju mule or watermelon subak soju, or be used to add a Korean twist to your favorite vodka cocktail. It would even match effortlessly with any beer in a somaek (a shot of soju dropped into beer).

We ranked these Jinro soju flavors based on personal preference and flavor, taking into account sweetness, fidelity to the fruit (when relevant), harshness or alcoholic burn, and overall pleasant experience. We sampled each one chilled and undiluted since soju is most often sipped straight without ice, and we considered unaltered flavor to be the most important factor. However, we also considered how each flavor would function as a cocktail mixer. To test it, we sampled each variety in a three-ingredient Korean yogurt and soju cocktail to see how the flavors hold up in a mixed drink. We also considered how flexible each flavor would be for a variety of cocktails and whether it may appeal to a broad range of palates. Cost was not a factor since they all retail for the same price, and assessment of the quality of ingredients was not possible since ingredient lists are not available from the manufacturer.