Alcohol is Culture... Need to Reshape Alcohol Culture and Liquor Industry System

[Financial News] "The best drink is the one you have with your favorite person. Alcohol enjoyed with good people and good food acts as a lubricant that smoothens relationships." Ma Seung-cheol, Chairman of Naracella, emphasized that alcohol culture should be established to improve interpersonal relationships and create enjoyable gatherings.
Known as the 'national wine', 'Montes Alpha', imported by Naracella, is the first domestic liquor distribution company to enter KOSDAQ. Ma Seung-cheol, who leads Naracella, participated as a speaker at the 'Gangnam Forum', a high-class networking forum hosted by Financial News for communication executives of domestic leading companies, and emphasized the need for improvement in Korea's alcohol culture, stating, "Our country has too high social costs due to a wrong alcohol culture." Ma expressed concern that the culture of making and drinking bomb shots could lead to crime or harm to others.

To change the alcohol culture, Ma's theory is that cultural spaces where people can enjoy wine and food with good people without burden are absolutely necessary. In fact, Ma is operating a 7-story building in Garosu-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, as a complex cultural space 'Doun' where wine and food can be enjoyed simultaneously. He hopes similar complex alcohol culture spaces will increase. Ma emphasized, "It's not just about drinking alcohol, but knowing the background and story of the drink, and weaving the drinking session into a story, turns alcohol consumption into culture."
"Alcohol in a pleasant setting enhances the taste of food." Ma emphasizes that food and alcohol are a set. This is why pairing wine with food is important. "We have imported wine, but now it's time to introduce makgeolli or distilled soju overseas. Korean alcohol is competitive enough globally. For this, the system and industry structure must support it." Ma expressed his intention to distribute Korean alcohol that matches K-food in the global market, taking advantage of the growing interest in K-food worldwide.
To this end, Ma emphasized that government regulations and systems on the liquor industry should also be improved along with alcohol culture. "There is still a lack of systems such as providing consumers with reliable information about alcohol, transparency in price structures, and quality certification. No matter how good the products imported by importers are, without these basics, market trust cannot be increased." In particular, Ma emphasizes that the liquor tax structure centered on alcohol content should be reformed and policies centered on consumer experience should be created. "Currently, our country's liquor tax system is centered on quantity and alcohol content, but it should change to focus on diversity and quality. Only then can small producers be competitive, and consumers can make better choices."




Ma emphasizes, "Alcohol culture and industry are a barometer of a country's advancement." The more advanced a country is, the more alcohol is consumed in a restrained, diverse, and cultural manner. Ma hopes that in Korea, alcohol will be seen not as a target of regulation and stress relief, but as a part of life and culture, and that public discourse will be formed to change social perceptions and systems. The solution presented by Ma Seung-cheol, a leading figure in the liquor industry who has led the liquor distribution business for over 20 years, to enhance the global status of the K-liquor industry is the formation of social discourse for the improvement of Korea's alcohol culture and system reform.


cafe9@fnnews.com Lee Gu-sun