Photo/Illutration Yoshikubo Brewery Co. President Hiroyuki Yoshikubo with a bottle of Ippin Junmai Ginjo. The sake was added to the VIP seat menu at Dodger Stadium this season. (Junko Miyasako)

MITO--“Cracking open a cold one” is a tradition among baseball fans in the stands, but a 234-year-old sake brewery here in Ibaraki Prefecture is gunning to serve the next drinks at Dodger Stadium.

Premium Ippin Junmai Daiginjo, made by Yoshikubo Brewing Co., is now on the VIP seat menu for a hefty $90 (14400 yen) per 720-ml bottle.

“We are a brewery in Ibaraki, a location that is not particularly famous as a sake-producing area,” said 12th-generation proprietor Hiroyuki Yoshikubo. “We are happy to win recognition along with the fine performances of the Japanese players.”

The sommelier-authorized selection purposefully coincides with Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

According to the 43-year-old company president, Ippin was chosen during a U.S. tasting process to bring Japanese flavors to the concessions stand this season.

The brewery, founded in 1790, produces about 320,000 liters per year. “Many steps are carried out by hand, and we are small in scale as a sake brewery,” Yoshikubo said.

Mito city is home to both the brewery and the rice it uses. The sake also relies on extra soft water drawn from Kasahara town. These local elements translate into a fruitiness and a distinct taste of rice.

But how exactly is that supposed to pair with ballpark staples like the Dodger Dog?

Apparently, well. And that’s not by luck.

Yoshikubo Brewery’s hopes to charm the international market are imbued into its sake. It currently exports around 40 percent of its products and began its international foray 20 years ago.

Ippin’s strong rice flavor was created to match richly flavored dishes of other countries. The bottle’s label also got a makeover around 10 years ago after the brewery sought opinions from overseas friends.

Its current black, red and gold design is inspired by Japanese armor and the “kabuto” helmet. The “ume” plum blossom branch is often associated with Mito and is a nod to the city.

Of all the liquid indulgences, the brewery named white wine its “rival” and believed “Japanese sake will not enjoy widespread popularity until it breaks into this huge market.”

In 2017, its sake won the top gold award in an international wine competition.

The brewery believes making it onto Dodger Stadium menu encapsulates its overseas strategy, and that this same strategy also created the foundation that made the honor possible.

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