Nankai Shochu was founded by Los Angeles native Paul Nakayama and his wife Mai after a 2015 honeymoon on her home island of Amami Oshima, where a chance meeting with the chairman of Machida Distillery led them to leave their tech careers and bring kokuto shochu to the United States. The name means South Sea, a nod to the Amami islands off Japan's southwestern coast, where black sugar shochu has been made for more than 60 years.

The core range is single-distilled from 80% kokuto black sugar and 20% rice koji with yeast and water, using vacuum stills that lower the boiling point for a gentler spirit, with no additives, sugar, carbs or gluten. Aged expressions rest in American and French oak casks on Amami. Nankai also imports a black-koji sweet potato shochu and a copper-pot kokuto rum from Ooyama Jinhichi in Kagoshima.

The lineup runs from the original 24% Nankai Shochu and the cask-finished White Oak to the 43% Nankai Gold blend, plus Imo Black and Acou Rum, with Gold and Double Gold medals from Los Angeles, San Francisco and The Spirits Business. Browse our full Nankai Shochu collection with fast nationwide shipping delivered straight to your door.