Eva Chow is Ready to Introduce the World to Premium Soju
Entreprenuer Eva Chow is already an accomplished fashion designer, restauranteur, art ambassador and wine connoisseur with a couple successful wines of her own. Now, the hardest working woman in Los Angeles is returning to her roots and getting into the soju business with the introduction of her premium soju KHEE.
Born in Seoul, South Korea, Chow moved with her family to Los Angeles in 1974 as a teenager. She got into fashion and the restaurant business building an empire that allowed her to hobnob with celebrities and fulfill all her philanthropic dreams. She made her life in the U.S. and didn’t rediscover Korea until she was an adult.
“I really didn’t have any kind of grown-up social experience in Korea until I started going back to recruit Korean artists to bring back their work to the U.S. for the [Los Angeles County Museum of Art],” she explains saying she started going to Korea regularly beginning around 2010.
On each of her visits Chow says she would be handed a bottle of soju but it just wasn’t up to her taste. As a wine lover she wondered how it could be improved and began researching the long history of Korea’s national spirit.
“That drink has its own taste and his own culture,” Chow admits of the diluted soju version’s popularity. “There is a generation that grew up drinking this. I thought why not make a really premium, distilled soju, the traditional way using the best rice and special rock water from the ground. Make something really great that I could bring to the rest of the world.”
Globally, soju had a market share of $5.3 billion in 2023. A large portion of that in Korea. Soju is a versatile white spirit that can be enjoyed straight, on the rocks or mixed into cocktails. There are also fruit-infused varieties. While soju appeals to budget-conscious consumers there has been a rise of premium and craft soju offerings coming to market. That’s where KHEE enters.
“People are into drinking finer spirits these days. That’s the trend, even for the younger generation,” Chow says. “So, I wanted to make a really proper premium soju to my taste. One that is smooth and good on the nose.”
KHEE launched in Korea in August 2022 and Chow began distributing the distilled spirit in the U.S. last year in California, Florida, Nevada and New York with the goal to expand nationally. It’s currently served in some of the top hotels and restaurants in the world including at COTE Korean Steakhouses in New York, Miami, Singapore and soon-to-be Las Vegas when it opens at The Venetian in 2025.
The high-end, gluten-free spirit has zero additives—it’s produced using only the best rice, water and yeast. To create KHEE, Chow traveled from Los Angeles to Seoul eight times over three years to meet with distillers and perfect the recipe.
“This was a passion project,” Chow says. “When I get an idea, a vision for something, I want to do it right.”
The big question is how America will take to an elevated soju spirit. But with the rising popularity of K-pop, Korean cuisine and Korean television shows and films in the U.S., Chow believes the appetite is there.
“I feel very passionate about it,” Chow says. “I would like the world to know what soju, the Korean national drink, is all about. I want to tell them that it is a premium spirit. I want to see Soju as a category of spirit that can be enjoyed with all cuisines and occasions. There is nothing better than enjoying a spirit that is pure, smooth, gluten free, has a delicate flavor and you wake up feeling good (minus the hangover) after a fun night out sipping KHEE.”
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For more information visit: kheesoju.com.
