 |
| Shinsegae Vice Chairman Chung Yong-jin's Instagram post shows the retailer's new craft beer, Gudanju, Thursday. Screencaptured from Chung Yong-jin's Instagram |
By Kim Jae-heun
Shinsegae's convenience store brand Emart24 said it will launch a beer called Gudanju in July featuring a portrait of Chung Yong-jin, the retail conglomerate's vice chairman and CEO.
"Gudanju" is a Korean term for the owner of a sports club, referring to Chung who owns the SSG Landers baseball team.
The vice chairman revealed his plan to use the professional baseball team his firm acquired in January as a marketing tool. Gudanju lager is the first product Chung has introduced, which he plans to sell at the Landers' home stadium in Incheon.
"We are still in the process of making various new items utilizing our baseball team. Gudanju beer is just one idea and nothing concrete has been decided about future items," an Emart24 official said.
Emart24 collaborated with Playground Brewery, a local microbrewer, to launch the lager. Playground Brewery is claimed to be the first firm here to bring in equipment from the United States to sell craft beer in cans.
The retailer plans to introduce more beer products named after SSG Landers' top athletes including Choi Jeong, Choo Shin-soo, Jamie Romak and Choi Joo-hwan. The retailer already registered trademark rights for the beer names.
However, the success of Shinsegae's beer does not seem to be guaranteed, since Chung's previous alcoholic experiment in 2016 ended up being a sobering failure.
The vice chairman acquired soju maker Jeju Soju five years ago for 19 billion won ($17.09 million). Shinsegae spent 86 billion won since 2016 to turn the local distiller around, but ended up closing it down early this year.
In 2008, Chung established the alcohol beverage retailer Shinsegae L&B, and opened a craft beer restaurant called Devil's Door in 2014, demonstrating his interest in the alcoholic beverage business.
This time, Chung is returning to the craft beer market together with SSG Landers and he has already started advertising on social media prior to the launch of his first beer.
![[INTERVIEW] How AmazeVR revolutionizes aespa's LYNK-POP concert](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/4431833759c44bdaa414cb314e90f2fe.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
