New Look Agricultural Corporation

How It Began

New Look is a traditional liquor brand company registered in Hwaseong-si, Gyeonggi. It handles every stage itself, from manufacturing and production to sales. The name comes from nuruk, the base ingredient of traditional Korean liquor: it was named "New Look" (nyuruk) to express the aim of interpreting nuruk anew.

CEO Kim In-ji says the company's ultimate goal is "popularizing traditional liquor." In an August 2024 interview, he said he had founded the company "last year" with like-minded colleagues. Based on the publication date, that means 2023.

The three co-founders were born in 1991, 1992 and 1993. They are a friend from a business administration society in his university days and a colleague who joined Cheil Worldwide, Kim's former employer, in the same year he did. Their investor introduced their backgrounds as Cheil Worldwide, LINE and restaurant start-ups. Kim explained that everyone on the founding team belongs to the product's target audience, people in their 20s and 30s.

At the time of founding, Kim announced the ambition of modernizing traditional liquor from the perspective of people in their 20s and 30s and taking on the global liquor market. According to a September 2023 report, The Ventures, an investment firm specializing in early-stage companies, made a seed investment in New Look. The investment came while the company was still developing prototypes.

How the Liquor Is Made

New Look uses a fermentation method it developed itself to bring the sugar in its makgeolli down to 0g. Average calories are 23.6 kcal per 100g, about half those of conventional makgeolli. In place of the removed sugar, sweetness comes from allulose, a sugar substitute in the natural sweetener family. It is a different choice from the standard formula of using aspartame in makgeolli.

The main ingredient, rice, is broken rice (ssaragi) from Gyeonggi. This rice keeps its taste and nutrition but is thrown away because it is broken and unattractive. By using it, New Look aims at both sustainability and shared growth with local farms. According to The Sool (thesool.com), the ingredients of New Look Lemon are purified water, allulose, rice (Gyeonggi rice), glucose, yeast, nuruk and synthetic flavoring (lemon).

The bottle format also differs from ordinary makgeolli. Where typical makgeolli comes in 750ml at around 6% ABV, New Look comes in 500ml at 4%. The format was chosen so it can be drunk as lightly as beer.

Signature Liquors and Lineage

As of August 2024, New Look's lineup consists of four products, designed as easy-drinking alternatives to beer or wine. Three of them, the Original, Lemon and Earl Grey makgeolli, were released in June 2024 in collaboration with the convenience store chain GS25. They were the sixth products of the "Hipgeolli Project," which GS25 has run since January 2024 to support young local entrepreneurs in the traditional liquor industry.

GS25 rolled out the three products in stores nationwide starting June 19, 2024. The run was 12,000 bottles. The Sool introduces the Lemon as a refreshing traditional liquor with 0g sugar, described as having a zingy freshness and a sweet-and-sour taste.

There are limited editions too. For Liberation Day 2024, the company released a limited bokbunja (Korean black raspberry) flavored makgeolli in collaboration with the modern hanbok brand Asiha. The packaging featured Asiha's character "Ttungbaekho" dressed in the clothes of independence activist An Jung-geun, and part of the proceeds was pledged to support descendants of independence patriots.

Recognition

In August 2024, New Look was selected for TIPS by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. TIPS is not a prize from a liquor competition but a government start-up support program. Through this selection, New Look will receive up to ₩700 million over two years in funding for R&D, commercialization and overseas marketing.

It was also selected for "Unifarm," a next-generation agri-food start-up incubation program run by TAPAngel Partners, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Korea Agriculture Technology Promotion Agency. Press reports presented this as recognition of its technology and growth potential. On the investment side, there is the September 2023 seed investment from The Ventures, an investment firm specializing in early-stage companies. These, too, are records of selection and investment rather than awards.