Gunsan City, Jeollabuk-do, is strengthening its craft beer city brand and launching a strategy to link industry and tourism with its participation in the largest beer specialty exhibition in Korea.
Gunsan City announced on the 19th that it is participating in the ‘2026 Korea Beer Expo’ held at COEX in Seoul from the 16th to the 18th and is intensively promoting the city’s brand with a focus on Gunsan Malt and the ‘Gunsan Craft Beer & Blues Festival’. Over 250 companies from over 10 countries participated in this expo, and over 30,000 people visited.
Gunsan City emphasized the potential of a local raw material-based industry in a domestic market structure highly dependent on imported malt through product development and story marketing using Gunsan malt, a domestic brewing raw material. Through this, it is evaluated that a new regional growth model linking agriculture, mainstream industry, and tourism has been presented.
As interest in Gunsan malt continued in the field, the supply of raw materials was confirmed with a craft beer company in Gangnam, Seoul, and a foundation for distribution expansion was also laid by holding purchase consultations with a number of breweries.
International collaboration is also promoted. Gunsan City, along with the U.S. Embassy in Korea, decided to jointly produce ‘American Independence 250th Anniversary Commemorative Beer’ using Gunsan malt and American hops. This product will be showcased at the U.S. Embassy’s independence celebration event in the future.
In addition, we are focusing on increasing brand awareness of the city by promoting the ‘Gunsan Craft Beer & Blues Festival’. Many of the visitors to the site already knew about or experienced the festival, confirming that it has established itself as a representative festival in the region.
An official from Gunsan City said, “In the future, we plan to continue to foster the craft beer industry based on domestic raw materials and expand tourism content linked to the festival to revitalize the local economy.”
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