A 1929 brewery, a dancing crane and a regional soju house.

Good Day (좋은데이) is a soju made by Muhak (무학), a liquor company headquartered in Changwon, in South Gyeongsang province on Korea’s south coast. Muhak launched the brand on 8 November 2006, according to a Newsis report of that day cited by Korean Wikipedia, and it went on sale later that month. Muhak has made Good Day ever since, and the name now runs across several of its products, from the original soju to Good Day Calamansi and Good Day Busan Galmaegi.

Muhak’s own history begins long before the brand. The company says its roots lie in Showa Liquor Industry (소화주류공업사), a maker of soju and cheongju founded in 1929 in Masan, now part of Changwon. In 1965, the company says, Choi Wi-seung took over the business, renamed it Muhak Brewery and launched a diluted soju called Muhak. The name is written 舞鶴 in Chinese characters, meaning “dancing crane,” and the crane is still the basis of the company’s symbol mark, according to Muhak’s corporate-identity page.

The modern company took shape under government policy. In 1973, Muhak says, a rule allowing one soju maker per province led it to merge 36 breweries across South Gyeongsang into a single firm, Muhak Jujo; Korean Wikipedia gives the incorporation date as 1 October 1973. The company moved into its Bongam-dong plant in Changwon in 1984 and took the name Muhak Co. in 1998, the year it listed on the KOSDAQ market; Korean Wikipedia, citing the Financial News, reports that it moved to the main KOSPI board in 2010. Choi Jae-ho became chief executive in 1994, according to the company, and Korean Wikipedia lists him as chairman.

Before Good Day, Muhak’s soju was led by White, a 23 per cent soju launched in 1995, and the company added a plum liqueur, Maesil Maeul, in 1998. Today it lists plants in Changwon, Ulsan and Chungju, the Ulsan plant completed in 2008 and the Chungju plant in 2020.

16.9 per cent and a television screen.

Good Day’s founding idea was a number. When it appeared in November 2006, most Korean soju was sold at about 20 per cent alcohol; Good Day was bottled at 16.9 per cent, a strength Muhak describes as a first for Korean soju. Korean Wikipedia, citing Newsis, records the same contrast.

The lower strength also opened a door for advertising. Edaily reported on 20 November 2006 that Muhak would begin airing Good Day commercials that evening on regional terrestrial channels, including Busan MBC and KBS Busan, and on national cable. Since 1996, the paper explained, an amended National Health Promotion Act had barred television advertising for soju of 17 per cent or more; at 16.9 per cent, Good Day fell below the line. The broadcast-advertising review committee approved the commercial on 16 November after three rounds of revisions, Muhak told the paper, and a company official described it as the return of soju to television advertising after about twenty years. The commercials featured Muhak’s advertising models, the actor Jung Joon-ho and the singer Chae Yeon, Edaily reported.

The brand then grew into a family. In May 2015, Muhak launched the Good Day Color Series, flavoured soju in three varieties, Blue with blueberry, Red with pomegranate and Yellow with yuzu, according to Korean Wikipedia, which cites the Gyeongnam Sinmun and Asia News Agency. The series helped carry Muhak beyond its home region into the Seoul area, Korean Wikipedia says. The same year the company opened the Good Day Museum, a drinks museum at its Changwon site that also recreates 1970s Masan, according to Muhak.

The core soju has kept changing. Muhak says it relaunched Good Day in 2021 as a cleaner-tasting version made without fructose, and again in 2026 with a share of Korean rice distillate and what the company calls 72-hour oxygen ageing; its website lists the current Good Day at 15.7 per cent. In 2024 the name stretched to Good Day Busan Galmaegi, a 19 per cent spirit launched in March and a 16 per cent version in December, named after the seagull that Muhak calls a symbol of Busan.

Design and documentation.

The seven brands in this group are all Korean drinks: Good Day, Kooksoondang, Hwayo, Andong Soju, Seoul Jangsoo, Saero and Jinro Is Back. They cover three kinds of drink. Good Day, Saero and Jinro Is Back are everyday soju, from Muhak, Lotte Chilsung Beverage and HiteJinro respectively. Hwayo and Andong Soju are distilled soju: Andong soju is a traditional distilled soju produced in Andong, in North Gyeongsang Province, and Hwayo is made in Yeoju, in Gyeonggi Province, by a company that Cho Tae-kwon founded in 2003; he had founded the porcelain maker Kwangjuyo in 1963, The Korea Times reported in 2025. Kooksoondang and Seoul Jangsoo are rice-wine names: Kooksoondang began as a maker of nuruk, the starter used to brew Korean wines, and is better known for Baekseju, a clear rice wine brewed with raw rice and herbs, while Seoul Jangsoo makgeolli is produced by an association formed by breweries in Seoul, The Korea Times reported in 2013.

For everyday soju, the bottle itself has long been shared. In 2009 Korea’s soju makers agreed with the Ministry of Environment to use green bottles of the same size and design, so that they could collect and reuse one another’s bottles, The Korea Times reported; the agreement was revised in August 2020 after makers began using bottles of other colours and shapes.

Each guide separates what independent sources record from what the company says about itself — its founding story, its owners over time, where its drinks are made and how its labels and bottles have changed — and marks plainly what rests only on the company’s own word.

A crane, a number and a regional name.

Muhak’s corporate identity is built on its name. The company’s identity page describes a symbol mark based on the crane, which it says stands for an enterprising, forward-looking spirit, combined with elements standing for water, the globe and a grain of rice. Good Day has a logotype of its own, which Muhak offers for download alongside the corporate one.

Good Day is still made by the company that launched it. Muhak is listed on the Korea Exchange, and Korean Wikipedia, citing the company’s 2018 filings, shows Choi Jae-ho and related parties as its controlling shareholders. The company has also looked abroad: it says it bought a Vietnamese drinks company, Victory, in 2017.

The name needs care online. “Good Day” is also used by unrelated food brands, among them Britannia’s Good Day biscuits in India. Muhak presents its soju at muhak.co.kr, where the older joeunday.co.kr address now leads.

For a design guide, Good Day shows how a single number, 16.9, could define a regional soju, take it onto television and later carry a family of flavours and spin-offs from a Masan liquor house to drinkers beyond its home region. Compare Chum Churum, the soju Doosan launched in 2006 and Lotte has owned since 2009, and Jinro, the soju name that dates to 1924. For this guide we use crane navy, bottle green and rice white with a rounded sans, an unofficial interpretation; no product or logo is reproduced.

Keep Good Day’s identity on hand — save it to a board in the Made Good inspiration library.