It might seem like a weird combination, or even a dessert, but trust us – combining soju and yogurt makes a fantastic drink! Specifically, soju, Yakult (the probiotic yogurt drink), and a soda of your choice.
It’s a massively popular cocktail in Korea, and great for when you fancy something a bit different. But what is it, and how do you make it?
What is soju and Yakult?
You might have seen this article, and wondered why on earth you’d empty a pot of yogurt into your soju. But don’t worry, it’s not quite what you think!
Quite simply, it’s a really drinkable cocktail, made of three ingredients:
- Soju;
- Yakult; and
- Sprite (ordinarily, but as we talk about below, there are other options.)
The sweetness in the Sprite, or other fizzy soft drink of your choice, and the creaminess of the Yakult masks the alcohol in the soju. This means it’s deceptively easy drinking.
According to the manufacturers themselves, the yogurt drink Yakult tastes like “a delicious hit of a unique blend of silky citrus and vanilla flavours”.
Combining this with Sprite, you end up with a surprisingly sweet drink, with a hit of sour from the citrus in the Yakult and the soda.
Given the ingredients, it also goes well with Korean food, like fried chicken. It’s also a perfect choice for after dinner if you’ve been drinking soju neat all night, and want something a bit more diluted and milky.
How do you make soju and Yakult?
Our favorite recipe for making soju and Yakult is:
- One shot glass measure (50ml / 1.7 oz) of soju
- One bottle of Yakult
- Top off with the glass with Sprite or other fizzy drink (see below).
Don’t forget to stir the drink to mix the ingredients, and also feel free to add ice if you want your drink chilled.
Interestingly, for those who don’t live in Korea, you might be used to seeing Yakult come in 65ml (2.2 oz) bottles. In Korea, Yakult actually comes in slightly larger bottles of 80ml (2.7 oz).
As a result, in the recipe above, you might want to add more soju if you want a slightly more alcoholic cocktail. You could also add less Yakult.
Feel free to experiment and vary the quantities to find your preference.
But unless you’re planning on having a few of these cocktails, you’ll end up with a little bit of Yakult left at the bottom of one of those tiny plastic bottles – and you wouldn’t want to waste it, would you?
How to mix Yakult and soju
The best way to mix your soju with your Yakult is to stir.
The reason for this is very straightforward. Given you are adding Sprite or another soda to the cocktail, if you try and shake it, this is likely to fizz up everywhere!
You can, of course, shake the Yakult and soju together, before adding the soda. But this adds an additional step to making the drink, as you’ll probably want to make sure the soda is blended with the other two ingredients anyway.
This means you’ll need to stir it again. So if you want to save yourself a bit of extra time and effort, simply stir all three ingredients together once you’ve added them.
But what are the best ingredients to use?
The best soju to use
Some people will swear blind – or blind drunk, maybe – that Chamisul Original soju is the best soju to use for a Yakult and soju cocktail.
I’m not sure I agree. Certainly, I’ve made this cocktail with other types of soju, like Jinro, and it still tastes just as good to me. Maybe that’s just because I’m a fan of soju though!
If you want to have a less strong drink, as well as upping the quantities of the non-alcoholic elements, you can also opt for a soju with a lower alcoholic content.
In particular, you can opt for one of the ‘Fresh’ varieties of soju on the market, which typically clock in a few percentage points lower in alcohol by volume (ABV).
But if you fancy something a bit different, you can always choose a flavored soju. As we wrote about in our Drink Pirate guide to flavored soju, there are loads of different varieties available.
But given this drink already has a citrus tang to it, why not turn up the juice with one of the citrus based options, like yuja (otherwise known as tangerine), grapefruit, or – unsurprisingly – citrus flavor?
Or if you can’t be bothered to mix the drink, or don’t have all the ingredients available, did you know that there’s already a yogurt flavor soju available?
That’s right – you can simply get straight to it and drink yogurt soju neat out of the shot glass, after work drinks style.
The best soda to use
Given that at least one third of your drink will be the soda, it’s important you choose the right one to suit your tastes.
As we’ve already learnt above, Sprite is the usual choice, but there are as many alternatives as your mind can imagine. Read on for some of our favorites…
Sprite
The most popular choice of drink to top the cocktail off with is Sprite, or another similar lemon and lime sparkling soda drink like 7up. This gives the drink a sweet citrus note, and adds to the refreshment factor.
But if you’re not a fan of citrus fruit – don’t despair!
Other great options that we recommend as an alternative soda are:
Ginger ale
This is a great fresh and spicy alternative to Sprite. The ginger gives it an extra kick that you don’t get from Sprite or 7up.
It also works well after dinner to help your digestion, as ginger is good for the stomach. As, indeed, is Yakult of course!
Coca-Cola
Somaek is a favorite in Seoul’s bars, and is a combination of soju and Coke. We’ve already written about how much we love somaek, and you can read that here.
But why not turn it up a notch, and add Yakult into the mix? If you need a pick-me-up after dinner (or before, or during…), this is probably the drink for you.
If you want to try something completely off the wall and original, you could also try one of the following. Both of these aren’t always available in Korea, so these aren’t truly authentic, but the joy of cocktails is that you can experiment.
Cherry Coke
Not to be confused with the K-Pop artist (though I’m sure it’s great to drink soju with her too), we’re talking about the drink.
This is a bit of a halfway house between using Sprite, and using Coke. It’s not unusual to get cherry yogurt, so why not add a tangy hit to your drink?
You can, of course, use the Pepsi Wild Cherry alternative if that’s your preference.
Cream soda
As we’ve already seen – and you probably already know – Yakult itself has vanilla undertones. So cream soda is a natural choice to add to your drink if you’re a big fan of everyone’s favourite ice cream flavor.
Conclusion
So what have we learnt? You now know what yogurt and soju is, and how to mix the perfect Yakult and soju cocktail.
You’ve also learnt some twists on the classic recipe, to impress your friends or just try out something a bit different from the norm.
So why not try one today?
Photo sources:
Cass soju and yogurt: laurabl on Flickr
Bottle of Yakult: Gabriel Yuji on Unsplash
Cass soju and yogurt: Kaje on Flickr
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