Nankai Shochu
Nankai Shochu is an independent craft spirits brand based in Los Angeles, California, making shochu and rum.
About Nankai Shochu
Nankai Shochu is a Los Angeles company bringing honkaku (genuine) Japanese shochu to a new U.S. audience. Nankai means "South Sea," an homage to Amami Island in southwestern Japan, home of kokuto, or black sugar, shochu: a koji-fermented spirit single-distilled from unrefined island sugarcane and rice.
The flagship Nankai Shochu is vacuum-distilled for a clean, fragrant, easy-drinking spirit at 24% ABV, with no sugar, carbs, gluten or additives. The line has grown to include cask-finished White Oak and the 43% ABV Nankai Gold, plus the Nankai Selection: spirits handpicked from other small Japanese distillers, starting with an imo shochu and a kokuto rum from Ibusuki, Kagoshima.
Nankai's motto has always been to sell only what they like to drink. Their shochu has earned a Master medal at The Spirits Business Spirits Masters Asia, Double Gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, and a place on the VinePair 50.
The Founders
Paul and Mai Nakayama went on their honeymoon in the spring of 2015 to Amami, Japan, to visit her parents' hometown. At a local bar they were introduced to a vacuum-distilled black sugar shochu so easy to drink and so delicious that they enjoyed quite a bit of it. The next day they took a 12-hour boat ride to visit the distillery and learn more about their new favorite spirit.
On the plane back to Los Angeles, they couldn't stop thinking about their honeymoon shochu and how much their friends in California would love it, too. They started importing their own brand of kokuto shochu in 2017. Paul, a UC Berkeley Haas graduate, came from startups and product marketing (Amp'd Mobile, Clearwire, magicJack); Mai is a serial entrepreneur with businesses in Fukuoka and Los Angeles.
Later, a train stop from where Mai's parents lived in Ibusuki, Kagoshima, Mai visited Ooyama Jinhichi Shoten, a small but legendary shochu distillery, and fell in love with both its shochu and its experiments with other spirits. Nankai began importing their spirits in 2024.
How Nankai Shochu makes its spirits
Honkaku shochu is koji-fermented and single-distilled once through a pot still, so it keeps the flavor and aroma of its source ingredients. Nankai's kokuto shochus are made on Amami Island by their partner, Machida Distillery, from four natural ingredients: kokuto sugarcane (80%), rice (20%), koji and water.
The flagship is vacuum-distilled: low pressure lowers alcohol's boiling point from about 173°F to roughly 113°F, which is gentler on the mash and produces a cleaner, more refined spirit. White Oak and Gold are finished for up to five years in American white oak and French Limousin casks on Amami.
The Nankai Selection comes from Ooyama Jinhichi Shoten in Ibusuki, Kagoshima, making shochu since 1875. Its imo shochu is fermented with black koji in 150-year-old enameled clay vessels and single-distilled in steam-heated stills; its kokuto rum is double-distilled in small batches on a copper pot still.
Details
- Location
- Los Angeles, CA
- Founded
- 2017
- Website
- nankaishochu.com
- @nankaishochuofficial
Gallery
Meet the Team
Paul Nakayama
President & Co-Founder
UC Berkeley Haas graduate with a background in startups and product marketing, including Amp'd Mobile, Clearwire and magicJack. Leads Nankai's vision for bringing shochu to a new U.S. audience.
Mai Nakayama
VP of Customer Experience & Co-Founder
A serial entrepreneur with businesses in Fukuoka and Los Angeles, and an Amami native. Manages Nankai's creative vision for events and customer experiences.
Robert Morita
VP of Business Development
UC Berkeley graduate who leads Nankai's relationships with on-premise and off-premise accounts.
Alexander Joo
Creative Director
Designer and brand consultant (Godiva, NHL, Walmart) responsible for Nankai's brand identity and packaging.
Cocktails
10 recipesAmami Sazerac
Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 oz Nankai Gold
- 0.25 oz absinthe or Herbsaint
- 1 sugar cube
- 0.25 oz fresh lemon juice
- 2-3 dashes aromatic bitters (Peychaud's or Angostura)
- Lemon peel
Directions
Chill one glass with ice. In a second glass, muddle the sugar, lemon and bitters, add the Nankai Gold and ice and stir to chill. Discard the ice from the first glass, rinse it with absinthe, add a large cube and strain the drink into it. Express the lemon peel over the top.
Day Break
Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 oz Nankai Imo Black
- 0.5 oz Nankai White Oak
- 0.5 oz Mommenpop Seville Orange
- 2 dashes FloraLuna smoked salt and pepper bitters
- 0.25 oz banana syrup (banana peels, sugar and hot water, equal parts by weight)
- 3 oz soda water
Directions
Combine the shochus, Mommenpop, bitters and banana syrup in a highball glass over ice. Top with soda water, stir to mix well and garnish with a shiso leaf. By bartender Kendra Hada, designed so beer and wine licensed restaurants in California and New York can serve it.
Habu's Neck
Recipe
Ingredients
- 1.5 oz Nankai Gold
- 0.5 oz pomelo juice
- 4 oz ginger beer
- Long pomelo peel
Directions
Combine the Nankai Gold and pomelo juice over ice and stir. Top with ginger beer and garnish with a long pomelo peel. A shochu buck adapted by Gersom Gamez, named for Amami's habu pit viper.
Spirits by Nankai Shochu
5 expressions
Nankai Acou Rum
Nankai Imo Black
Nankai Gold
Nankai White Oak
