This study examined the quality characteristics of Makgeolli to investigate the availability of Korean sweet potato cultivars as alcoholic beverages. The following sweet potato varieties were used: Gogunmi, Daeyumi, Shingunmi, Shinyulmi, Shincheonmi, Jinyulmi, Jinhongmi, Jeungmi and Pungwonmi; their alcohol contents ranged from 12.20% to 14.20%, with the lowest value in Makgeolli made with Jeungmi and the highest value in Makgeolli made with Jinhongmi. The DPPH radical scavenging activity was in the range of 37.51~77.02%, with the lowest value in Makgeolli made with rice (control) and the highest value in Makgeolli made with Gogunmi. As a result of analyzing the aroma component of sweet potato Makgeolli, 27 kinds of aroma components were detected, and six kinds of alcohols, 13 kinds of esters, four kinds of acids, and four kinds of other compounds were found. Regarding the number of aroma compounds, Makgeolli made with Shinyulmi showed the lowest number with 14 kinds, while Makgeolli made with Pungwonmi showed the highest number with 27 kinds.