The Los Angeles Dodgers and Oita, Japan-based Nikaido Shuzou Company, Ltd. announced a partnership agreement that establishes the beverage provider as the official shochu of the Dodgers.
Through the agreement, Nikaido Shochu will be offered at Dodger Stadium in select locations throughout the ballpark, presenting fans with the opportunity to enjoy Japan’s national drink on the rocks and in signature cocktails.
“Nikaido Shochu and the Dodgers will form a first-class partnership, and we could not be more pleased,” Dodgers executive vice president and chief marketing officer Lon Rosen said. “We look forward to joining them in engaging with our fans on a number of levels, and we happily welcome them as the official shochu of the Dodgers.”
Nikaido Shochu is the first ever 100% barley shochu, using barley koji, and has been described as smooth, crisp, and bright combined with a richly aromatic fruity barley heart, integrated with clarity and definition.
In 2024, Nikaido’s Shochu was made available in the U.S. for the first time in the brand’s nearly 160-year history.
“We are thrilled to join the Dodgers, both as long-time overseas supporters of the team, and now as the team’s official shochu,” said Yuichi Nikaido, eighth generation President of the Nikaido Shuzou company. “The Dodgers are recognized worldwide as among the most inclusive franchises in professional sports globally, and one that has proven time and time again to embrace Japanese culture.
“We are excited, now, to introduce Japan’s national drink to Dodger fans throughout the 2025 season and beyond.”
The Dodgers have been busy adding international partnership agreements. Those include ITO EN, All Nippon Airways, Kinoshita Group, Tsukiji Gindaco, AFEELA, Yakult, THK, Kosé Corporation, Daiso, Kowa Company, Ltd., and Toyo Tires, among others.
About the Nikaido Shuzou company
The Nikaido family has been brewing and distilling in Oita prefecture, Kyushu, Japan, for eight generations. Founded in Hiji-Machi in 1866 as a sake (nihon-shu) brewery, it has remained in the ownership of the Nikaido family ever since.
In 1949, Nikaido began to switch from brewing sake to distilling shochu, drawing on the family’s generations of experience working with koji, the essential component in the making of both sake and shochu.
Since the 16th century, shochu has been made using rice koji. But in the early 1970s, Mr. Akira Nikaido, the sixth generation president of the Nikaido Shuzou, began to develop a novel method of making a 100% barley koji, with the aim of creating a shochu with a cleaner, more broadly palatable flavor profile.
He predicted that this would make shochu more accessible to the drinking public and lead to a growth in popularity of the spirit. When combined with vacuum distillation, the resulting liquid was a new, easier-drinking style that preserved delicate floral aromas and subtle vanilla, toasted coconut, and stone-fruit flavor notes.
What was once a region-specific spirit exploded in popularity throughout the country and now 99.6% of Oita shochu is barley based.
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