After a whirlwind 18 months as the UK’s first sake brewery, Kanpai is looking to move to a bigger space that includes a sake bar tap room!
After falling in love with sake in Japan on holiday, Lucy and Tom Wilson took on the challenge of brewing it back home out of curiosity. Then the hobby went turbo! Kanpai – which means ‘cheers’ or ‘dry your cup’ in Japanese – officially launched in June 2017.
Inspired by Japanese traditions, Kanpai have created their own London style of sake, which is full-bodied and dry. The ingredients are simply: water, yeast, rice and koji – a magic mould that’s also used to make soy sauce and miso.
With each batch, Kanpai release a clear, pure junmai called ‘SUMI’ and a cloudy nigori called ‘KUMO’. They’re super versatile: to enjoy cold, warm, in cocktails or matched to a huge variety of food. In time for summer 2018, they’ve released a sparkling sake ‘FIZU’ – the perfect aperitif or friend to a BBQ. Refreshing and zesty, with fine bubbles from Champagne-style secondary fermentation in the bottle.
The brewery follows in the footsteps of the UK’s craft beer scene, by making additional seasonal varieties: these small craft batches have changing ingredients and twists for variety and freshness.
‘Brewed like a beer, enjoyed like a wine’: Kanpai are driven to bring sake into the lives of more people in London, across the UK and beyond – that’s why they produce in small ‘sharer size’ bottles and run a series of events to demonstrate the huge range of cuisines to enjoy sake with.
Now, in August 2018, they’re upscaling their brewery and opening a sake tap-room in Copeland Park, Peckham. They are crowdfunding to support this leap in the sake revolution: www.crowdfunder.co.uk/
All Kanpai London sake is natural, vegan, sulphite-free, gluten-free, with no additives or preservatives. So no hangovers (no promises).
Contact: lucy@kanpailondon.co.uk, tom@kanpailondon.co.uk, @kanpailondon, www.kanpai.london
