South Korea: Lotte Chilsung to stop producing Cloud and Crush draft beer

South Korea’s Lotte Chilsung Beverage will stop producing Cloud and Crush draft beer products. The move is interpreted as a result of the prolonged slump in the entertainment market and the high cost burden unique to premium beer, Maeil Business Newspaper reported on November 26.

According to the liquor industry on the 26th, Lotte Chilsung Beverage recently confirmed the end of production of two draft beer products, Cloud 20L and Crush 20L. The product was mainly supplied to restaurant and entertainment channels such as pubs, restaurants, and chicken restaurants, and the company plans to complete the reorganization of production facilities and manpower relocation as early as the first half of next year.

The decision is limited to draft beer products. Lotte Chilsung Beverage said, "We will reorganize our beer business and focus on our main products to repay them with better products and services," adding, "We will operate canned and bottled products the same as before, and speed up the strengthening of functional beer such as non-alcoholic."

The worsening profitability is behind the withdrawal of draft beer lines. Cloud is a premium lager that uses 100% malt (mac) and 100% aroma hops, and the cost burden is higher than that of ordinary products. In particular, it is analyzed that the efficiency of draft beer distribution channels has fallen significantly due to prolonged consumption contraction across the restaurant and entertainment industries.

Performance indicators also demonstrate this trend. Lotte Chilsung's cumulative liquor sales in the third quarter of 2025 fell 7.4% year-on-year to 575.3 billion won. Domestic beer sales fell 38.6% to 41.6 billion won during the same period. In particular, domestic beer sales fell 36.4% to 15 billion won in the third quarter alone, resulting in a significant drop in performance.

Cloud-oriented product restructuring has been taking place sequentially since last year. After Lotte Chilsung Beverage discontinued "Cloud Raw Draft" in March 2024 and "Cloud Calory Light" in July of the same year, non-alcoholic beer products were organized into "Clear" and "Clear Zero" and integrated into the "Cloud Non-Alcoholic" brand.