South Korean Seven Brau gets delisted as craft beer sector suffers

South Korean craft brewery Seven Brau now faces expulsion from the Korea Exchange, just 19 months after listing, as financial pressures and legal disputes overwhelm the business. Its plight reflects a wider malaise in the country’s craft beer sector, where shifting drinking habits and mounting losses are leaving brewers increasingly exposed.

 

Seven Brau, based in Gangwon Province, was first established in 2011 and for many in the region is considered to have led the craft beer boom in South Korea.

The brewery, which is well-known for its Daepyo wheat beer brand which sold 410,000 cans within just one month since launching, has faced financial difficulties of late along with legal disputes that have assisted in dismantling the business.

Speaking to the drinks business, New Zealand beer expert Martin Bridges confirmed that the situation internationally and not just across Asia was “unprecedentedly bad” and told db that this was in no way an isolated issue, but one that was affecting all “indie brewers globally”.

Reports across South Korea additionally outlined that, as demand plummets due to changing drinking trends, cases of delisting or court receivership are occurring one after another and the Financial Supervisory Service revealed yesterday that the Konex Market Listing Disclosure Committee of the Korea Exchange has decided to delist Seven Brau. Essentially, this means Seven Brau will be expelled just one year and seven months after its entry into Konex unless the company does not appeal by the 11 September.

Seven Brau, which partnered with Daehan Flour Mills back in 2020 and co-launched their Gompyo wheat beer brand has seen a lot of success after the collaborative brew reportedly recorded cumulative sales of 60 million cans. Despite this positive union, when the trademark usage contract ended in 2023, the manufacturer purportedly went ahead to change from Seven Brau to Jeju Beer — a move that had a knock on effect on the brewery.

Initially, Seven Brau protested that Daehan Flour Mills had leaked the recipe, while Daehan Flour Mills then is said to have countered that it was a “normal contract termination,” culminating in a disagreement that led to ongoing legal disputes.

The issues then escalated when Seven Brau entered corporate rehabilitation procedures in July and also the business reported on how last year’s sales had nosedived by 31.6% year-on-year to KR₩8.5 billion (US$6 million) and the operating loss rose by 46.8% to KR₩9.1 billion (US$6.5 million).

Echoing Seven Brau’s hardships, Jeju has not emerged unscathed. For instance, the business has been sold and resold over the past year and continues to struggle. In March 2024, Jeju Beer was acquired by auto repair company Double HM before being sold again to semiconductor business Hanul Semiconductor in November 2024, which saw the beer company change its name to Hanul & Jeju.

However, Jeju also saw a loss of KR₩11.6 billion (US$8.3 million) in 2022, the year after listing, it recorded losses of KR₩10.4 billion (US$7.4 million) in 2023 and KR₩4.8 billion (US$3.4 million) last year. In the first half of 2025 it posted a loss of KR₩2 billion (US$1.4 million) showing that the craft sector across South Korea is suffering.

db has reached out to Seven Brau for further comments and to find out its plans on how to stay afloat.

Related news

East Coast Canning partners with Meadow

Sunrise invests £100,000 into Curious Brewery

Sierra Nevada's Celly Drippins pours in the UK for the first time