What They Drink in K-Dramas: A Guide to the Green Bottle

If you have watched a Korean drama, you have watched people drink. The dinner-table scene is one of the form's basic units, and the props are always the same: a small green bottle, a stack of shot glasses, and something grilling in the middle of the table.

This guide covers what those drinks actually are, why the same bottle appears in almost every show, and how to drink the way the characters do without getting it wrong.

If you want the wider picture of what Koreans actually drink, start with our complete guide to Korean alcohol.

Why is the bottle always green?

The green soju bottle is one of the most recognisable objects in Korean popular culture, and it is green for an unglamorous reason: in 1994 Korean soju makers agreed on a standardised bottle so that empties could be collected, washed and refilled by whichever company received them. A shared bottle only works if everyone uses the same one.

The result is that nearly every mass-market soju in Korea comes in an identical 360ml green bottle. On screen this is enormously useful — the audience recognises it instantly — and it is why the object reads as "Korea" to viewers who have never tasted the contents.

What they are actually drinking

Soju — the green bottle

Clear, clean, faintly sweet, around 16–17% ABV. It is drunk cold from small glasses, poured for you by someone else, and almost always alongside food. This is the default drink in any drama scene set in a restaurant, a tent bar or someone's kitchen floor at 2am.

Beer — and the soju bomb

When a character drops a shot glass of soju into a glass of beer, that is poktanju (폭탄주), a "bomb shot". The gentler everyday version is somaek (소맥) — soju poured into beer at roughly three parts to seven, stirred and drunk immediately. If a drama shows a work dinner getting out of hand, somaek is usually the reason.

Makgeolli — the bowl, not the glass

Milky, lightly fizzy, about 6% ABV, served cold in a shallow bowl. When a scene moves outdoors, or to an older character, or to a rainy day with a savoury pancake on the table, the drink changes to makgeolli. The pairing of rain and makgeolli is a genuine Korean habit, not a screenwriting invention.

Whisky and wine — the status drinks

Korean television uses spirits as shorthand for class. Chaebol families drink whisky from cut-glass tumblers in low-lit studies; the people they are exploiting drink soju out of green bottles in tents. When a drama wants to show someone crossing between those worlds, it usually changes what is in their glass.

Squid Game and the bottle that went global

The single largest boost Korean soju has had abroad came from television rather than advertising. When a show reaches an audience of that size, every object in it gets looked up — and a great many first-time soju buyers outside Korea started from a screenshot.

The brands noticed. Soju makers have since run formal tie-ins with the productions themselves, putting show artwork on bottles and merchandise aimed squarely at international viewers rather than domestic drinkers.

K-pop and the soju model

Inside Korea, soju advertising has run on celebrity for decades. The brands sign the country's most recognisable faces, and the announcement of a new model is treated as news in its own right.

What changed recently is the target. A domestic campaign sells to people who already drink soju; a global campaign fronted by an idol with an international following sells to people who have never seen a bottle. HiteJinro's first global campaign with BTS's V passed 500 million views across social platforms within weeks of launch, with outdoor placements in New York, Toronto, Tokyo, Sydney and several other cities.

We covered that campaign and what it says about soju's export strategy here: SoolTimes news.

Drinking scenes: what the etiquette actually means

The gestures in drama drinking scenes are not decoration. They encode the age and rank of everyone at the table, and Korean viewers read them automatically.

• Two hands on the bottle. A character pouring with both hands is pouring for someone senior. One hand means they are equals, or that they are being deliberately rude.
• Turning the head away to drink. Done in front of an elder. Drinking face-on to a much older person is a small insult, and dramas use it when they want a character to look defiant.
• The lower glass. When two characters clink, watch the rims — the junior person holds theirs lower.
• Never filling your own glass. A character pouring their own drink is signalling that they are alone, or that something has gone wrong at the table.
• The refill. Keeping an eye on someone's empty glass and filling it is an act of care. Dramas use it as a quiet way to show one character looking after another.

The full set of rules, including how to decline politely, is in our guide to Korean drinking etiquette.

How to recreate a drama drinking scene

If you want the actual experience rather than the prop, this is what to do.

• Get the food right first. Soju without food is not the scene you watched. Grill pork belly, or order fried chicken, or make a stew. The drink is the accompaniment.
• Small glasses. Soju shot glasses hold about 50ml. A wine glass changes the drink entirely.
• Serve it cold. Straight from the fridge, not iced.
• Pour for each other. This is the part that actually makes it feel Korean.
• Say geonbae. 건배 — "cheers". Among friends, jjan (짠) works.

Frequently asked questions

What soju do they drink in Korean dramas?

Almost always a standard mass-market soju in the shared green 360ml bottle, at around 16–17% ABV. Because the bottle design is standardised across Korean producers, the same object appears regardless of brand — and product placement decides which label is facing the camera.

Is the soju in K-dramas real alcohol?

No. Production teams substitute water or a non-alcoholic stand-in. Actors film drinking scenes repeatedly over long days, which would be impossible otherwise.

Why do Koreans turn away when drinking?

It is a gesture of respect towards someone older or more senior. Turning the head slightly away avoids drinking face-on to them. It applies mainly to the first glass and in more formal company.

What is somaek?

Soju mixed into beer, roughly three parts soju to seven parts beer. It is the most common way Koreans drink soju in a group, and it goes down considerably more easily than either drink alone.

Can I buy the same soju outside Korea?

Usually yes. Korean and pan-Asian grocers stock it almost everywhere, many large supermarkets now carry at least the flavoured range, and any Korean restaurant will have it on the menu.

What should I watch for in the next drinking scene?

Who pours, which hand they use, and whose glass is held lower. Those three details will tell you the entire hierarchy of the table before anyone says a word about it.