南韩正进入被称为「清酒时代」的热潮：酒吧陈列吟酿、纯米、大吟酿等品项，年轻饮者也会讨论精米步合与产地风格。但清酒在韩国的根更深：最常见的祭祀用酒「白花寿福」常被误认为本土，其源头其实可追溯到日本殖民期（1910–1945）。

1915 年，日本人西原金藏在忠清南道论山创立「朝鲜酿造」，1917 年扩张到群山；其招牌酒「朝之花」在 1924、1926 年的日本大藏省全国酒类竞赛得奖，1927 年甚至被带到瑞士日内瓦的国际会议。到 1930 年代，朝鲜半岛已有 119 家酒造、年产超过 1,200 万公升，较两个十年前几近倍增；殖民政府以酒税法现代化标准、禁止家酿，让清酒逐步取代马格利与药酒进入祭坛。

战后 1945 年 8 月日本投降，11 月在美军政厅下恢复生产；1951 年由姜正准取得酒造，1952/1953 年更名并推出白花，1963 年再出寿福，合并成今日白花寿福。1965 年政府限制稻米酿酒，导致当时仍在运作的 30 多家旧殖民酒造「只剩 3 家」存活；白花寿福以 1 升斗（1.8 公升）棕瓶成为「祭祀酒」代名词。品牌 1967 年改名，1985 与 1999 年两度易主；现以 70% 精米步合（本酿造类）生产，曾长期拿下最高约 80% 市占，显示殖民遗绪在政治断裂后仍能延续。

South Korea’s current “sake era” features bars stocked with ginjo, junmai, and daiginjo, and drinkers comparing rice‑polishing ratios and regional styles. Yet the most common ceremonial bottle, Baekhwasubok, is often assumed to be native even though its roots lie in Japanese colonial rule (1910–1945).

In 1915, Japanese brewer Kinzo Nishihara founded Chosen Brewery in Nonsan and expanded to Gunsan in 1917. His flagship Asanohana won top prizes in Japan’s Ministry of Finance liquor competitions in 1924 and 1926, and was showcased abroad in Geneva in 1927. By the 1930s, Korea had 119 breweries producing over 12 million liters annually—nearly double output from two decades earlier—supported by cold winters, rising rice production, and a Liquor Tax Law that modernized standards and banned home brewing.

After Japan’s surrender in August 1945, production resumed in November; the brewery was acquired in 1951, renamed in 1952–1953, and a premium variant followed in 1963, culminating in today’s Baekhwasubok. When rice use in alcohol was restricted in 1965, more than 30 surviving former colonial breweries shrank to just three, while Baekhwasubok endured—its 1‑sho (1.8‑liter) bottle becoming shorthand for ritual liquor. The company renamed in 1967, changed hands in 1985 and 1999, now uses a 70% polishing ratio (honjozo), and for decades held up to 80% market share, illustrating how cultural legacies can outlast political rupture.