Los Angeles Craft Shochu

Los Angeles is where shochu found its American audience, and two of its most visible brands are based here.

Nankai Shochu began when Paul and Mai Nakayama fell for a black sugar shochu on their honeymoon in Amami; today it imports four shochus from Amami and Kagoshima plus a kokuto rum. MUJEN, from Sondra Baker and Bruce Bozzi, partners with the family-run Sengetsu distillery in Kumamoto on three rice shochus, led by the Wine Enthusiast Top 100 MUJEN Original.