NIKAIDO, CREATOR OF THE ORIGINAL 100% BARLEY SHOCHU, TABS SAN FRANCISCO’S KENDRA HADA AS US BRAND AMBASSADOR

Winner of Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association Shochu Cocktail Competition brings category expertise to new role as educator and advocate

HIJI-MACHI, HAYAMI-GUN, OITA, JAPAN (MAY 13, 2025) - Nikaido Shuzou Co., LTD., the nearly 160 year-old family company that changed Japanese drinking culture with the original 100% barley shochu, today announces the appointment of Kendra Hada as Brand Ambassador - Nikaido US.

Hada brings more than a decade of professional bar experience to her new role, which will include hands-on collaboration with bartenders, accounts, and beverage professionals as Nikaido continues to introduce the shochu category to US consumers. Through education, cocktail development, and in-market engagement, she will build awareness, drive sales, and advocate for shochu as an essential spirit within the American bar scene.

Says Yuichi Nikaido, 8th-generation President of Nikaido Shuzou Co., Ltd., “We are very pleased to have Kendra join Nikaido as our Brand Ambassador in the US. Her expertise and passion will be essential in bringing the story and appeal of shochu directly to the industry, and I am confident she will play a key role in strengthening our presence in the American market. We are excited for what lies ahead.”

Hada, who in 2023 won the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association Shochu Cocktail Competition, will also represent Nikaido at consumer-facing events, offering tastings and providing in-depth education on shochu’s heritage, production methods, and its modern relevance.

“I’m thrilled to join the Nikaido family. The first bartender's educational seminar I ever attended focused on shochu. Learning about the spirit and tasting the variety of flavors it presents has stuck with me throughout my career.”

Hada continued, “I am a hāfu, which is a person of half Japanese descent, and shochu is both a way for me personally to connect to my heritage, as well as a new and exciting tool for me to use as a bartender. Shochu brings a great versatility to cocktails that I believe can appeal to everyone. My goal is to continue educating the public about shochu, and to be an example for women and, as a hearing-disabled person, people with disabilities behind the bar.”

Hada’s bar career began in earnest as part of the opening team for “Sunday in Brooklyn” where she fed her excitement for the creativity and precision bartending requires. Subsequent moves included Tales of The Cocktail Spirited Awards-nominated bar Existing Conditions, owned by Dave Arnold and noted shochu aficionado and educator Don Lee; and Llama San, where she worked under esteemed Beverage Director Lynnette Marrero. Hada credits these industry powerhouses with helping to shape how she thinks about flavors and cocktails.

She currently works in San Francisco at the multi award-winning ABV.

About Nikaido Shuzou Co., LTD

The Nikaido family has been brewing and distilling in Oita prefecture, Kyushu, Japan, for eight generations. Founded in Hiji-Machi in 1866 as a nihon-shu brewery, it has remained in the ownership of the Nikaido family ever since.

In 1949, NIKAIDO began to switch production from nihon-shu to shochu, drawing on the family’s generations of experience working with koji, the essential component in the making of nihon-shu and shochu.

Since the 16th century, shochu has been made using rice koji. But in the early 1970s, Mr. Akira Nikaido, the 6th 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.

In 1974, the first 100% mugi (barley) shochu was released to an enthusiastic public. What was once a region-specific spirit soon became the national drink of Japan, and mugi shochu became the style for which Oita prefecture was known. Now 99.6% of Oita shochu is barley based.

In March 2024, Nikaido Oita Mugi Shochu and NIKAIDO Kitchom Oita Mugi Shochu were made available in the US market for the first time.

Learn more at https://nikaidoshuzou.jp/ and @nikaido.shochu

Media inquiries:
Nikaido Shuzou Co., LTD.

Colin Baugh
President
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Bradley Tuck
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