Trevier Smoked Beer wins a Grand Award in the craft ale category at the 2025 Korea Wine & Spirits Awards
Trevier Smoked Beer has won the grand award in the craft ale category at the 2025 Korea Wine & Spirits Awards (KWSA), according to a recent ChosunBiz report. ChosunBiz is a South Korean media platform which hosts the annual KWSA event.
Trevier Smoked Beer, the only commercial smoked beer in the country, is created through a process where the brewmaster directly smokes malt with domestic oak, imparting a unique flavour. It has an alcohol content of 4.6% (ABV) and a bitterness index (IBU) of around 15, providing a suitable bitterness that harmonises with its smoky aroma. The dark red colour (SRM 14) meets the expectations of what a smoked beer should look like.
Located in Unyang-eup, Uljin-gun, Ulsan, the Trevier Brewing Company grew out of Trevi Bräuhaus, a pioneer of South Korea’s craft beer culture, The brewery was founded in 2003 when small-scale breweries were first legalised, making it a first-generation brewpub. Using techniques introduced by Markus Bormann, a brewmaster with the German company Bormann Brewery Consulting Technology, also known as BrewConTec, the brewery produces the high-quality smoked beer using advanced brewing equipment from the Canadian company Specific Mechanical Systems.
The Korea Wine & Spirits Awards has become the one of the country’s leading evaluation events in the alcoholic drinks sector and is now in its 12th year. Since 2014, ChosunBiz has held it annually with its stated goal of “discovering and widely promoting good domestic alcohol while supporting the formation of a healthy drinking culture.”
The 2025 event had 236 companies take part, with a total of 1,008 brands competing, making it the largest award event among domestic liquor competitions. At the event, 431 brands received grand awards across the multiple categories.
