Community Highlights: Meet Paul and Mai Nakayama of Nankai Group

Today we’d like to introduce you to Paul and Mai Nakayama.

Paul and Mai, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
We got married in 2014 and honeymooned in Mai’s hometown, Amami Island. It’s actually an archipelago far to the south of Japan and is the only region allowed to make a unique form of Japanese spirits called “kokuto shochu.” It’s a single-distilled, all-natural spirit made from artisanal kokuto sugar and rice… and it blew my mind.

The life-changing moment happened on a smaller island where we were eating and drinking after a long day of caving. An older local kept eyeing our table, and eventually he got and walked over. Before long, he had given us a 1.5-liter bottle of what would eventually become Nankai Shochu. Mai and I finished the whole thing. The next morning, we were surprisingly not hungover, and even more to our surprise, found the gentleman’s business card– He was the chairman of the distillery’s board, and he had left a message telling us to visit.

After a 12-hour ferry ride, we arrived at the distillery, toured the grounds, tried every expression available to us, and fell in love with everything they were doing. On the flight back to L.A., we couldn’t stop thinking about it. To taste all that great shochu again, we would have to travel for over 24 hours, or… we could get an alcohol importing license and convince the distillery to give us the exclusive rights.

We officially launched Nankai Shochu in late 2017, and we are now celebrating our 5-year anniversary. Our shochu is currently available in over 400 locations in five states. In California, we can be found in the finest retail shops, bars and restaurants. We often participate in tasting events in hopes of giving people the same passion for shochu that we’ve discovered.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Our first sales pitch was to a renowned sommelier working as the beverage director for David Chang’s Momofuku restaurant group. And it was effortless due to his open mind. We naively thought that alcohol sales were going to be that easy since we have a great product. It wasn’t long before there was a reckoning, and we quickly discovered how much hard work it would take to find subsequent customers.

While all emerging alcohol brands will have to struggle with compliance, brand building, and trying to not to get crushed daily by the titans of the industry, it is especially hard for companies like us that specialize in a unique and relatively unknown or misunderstood spirit category.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
While we consider ourselves an importer of all Asian spirits, beers and wine, our proudest accomplishment is the creation and the growth of Nankai Shochu. We spend a large amount of time and energy toward sharing our passion and knowledge for Nankai Shochu because we believe in its ability to turn more people onto the shochu category.

For those that are interested, Nankai Shochu and our newly released Nankai White Oak are sugar, carb, and gluten-free with only 39 calories per oz. They taste incredible on the rocks, in a highball, or in the many cocktail recipes you can find on our website.

What are your plans for the future?
We are expanding into more states in 2023 and adding more exciting products to our portfolio. Stay tuned!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://nankaishochu.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nankaishochuofficial
• Facebook: https://www.facebook/com/nankaishochu

Image Credits
Mai Nakayama