Lucy Wilson, Sake Brewer
KANPAI LONDON CRAFT SAKE
peckham, south-east london
Jostling elbows in Japanese izakayas, Lucy and Tom Wilson discovered a passion for sake that went beyond the buzz you get from clinking cups with strangers in a confined space. Having thrown themselves into extensive research, sake school in Kyoto and a successful crowdfunding campaign, the couple set up Kanpai, the UK’s first sake brewery in 2017. A tap-room, brewery tours and a reputation for traditionally made nihonshu, as sake is known in Japan, has followed. But so, too, has innovation, a seasonal approach and award-winning brews of unique character – the result of working with London’s hard water and at a far geographical move from sake’s ancient tradition. Sake aged in bourbon barrels? Check. Canned session sake with yuzu and cucumber? Yep. This is Peckham, after all.
“We fell in love with sake in Japan, then spent years trying to home-brew it. After sharing it with friends and family, our hobby went turbo and we officially launched our first 'Kanpai sake' in June 2017. We finished labelling it the night before our wedding and sold the first bottle in Selfridges the day we got back from our honeymoon.
We both used to moonlight, doing brewing every evening after the commute and all weekend. Tom eventually took the jump from his job in the finance world. I still actually have my job – I love it and it pays the bills. I work in science communication and am a biologist by trade which is useful in the brewery.
Our brewery is in an industrial unit in Peckham. The walls are raw and painted, but the kit we've had made over the years is super slick and modern. Walking in, you smell the sweetness from active rice ferments – a mix of apple and chestnuts. On an average day (pre-lockdown), you would hear the buzzing from the tattoo parlour opposite and bands rehearsing in the unit next to ours. Copeland Park has an amazing mix of creatives and is such an inspiration. We’ve lived in Peckham for nearly 10 years, so it was a natural home for Kanpai. It's so vibrant and a place where cultures collide, yet with a big local, community spirit.
“Walking into the brewery, You smell the sweetness from active rice ferments – a mix of apple and chestnuts”
Lucy Wilson
At first, Tom and I both did everything, but Tom very much leads on the brewing side now; he's such a natural in this world, it's hard to imagine he spent so many years at a desk. He's super passionate and full of ideas to innovate and improve.
Sake making is long and precise, and you have to be truly hooked; there are many stages to getting the perfect rice brew. We respect all Japanese traditions we have learned – and we even grow our own koji rice – but we use modern equipment which helps us with precision and regulation of the brews. We also mix up the styles to suit palates here.
It is very hard to brew sake in a country which doesn't grow rice. We've learned a lot the hard way about importing from Japan and the US. We’ve also had to have some of our kit custom made, as a sake press isn't a typical request!
We are very fortunate to have learned techniques from many toji (master sake brewers) and got hands-on with them to see how everyone develops their unique style. A toji is so in tune with the rice and has that Japanese way of striving for perfection with every grain, it really is admirable.
Sake making in Japan is traditionally male dominated; there are definitely times I have felt a bit out of place for being female. However, things are changing and we have spent time with female master brewers, too. It’s hard to keep up with the drinking, that's for sure! We are very proud that our assistant brewer at Kanpai is female: Natalie is wine-trained and spent a season sake brewing in Japan. We are so lucky our worlds met.
“Our style is always to lean to what people like to drink here… over time, we are getting a bit more playful”
Sake is delicious and like nothing else. It also has an amazing diversity once you dig into it. If you’ve tried a sake before and not liked it, I’d say don't write it off. Who truly enjoyed their first beer? You just need to find the style that works for you, so go ahead and explore… Ask for what you typically like the flavour of – fruity or savoury, dry or sweet – and someone in a store or restaurant should be able to recommend accordingly.
Our first signature range is the most traditional. It's all junmai, meaning we don't add any distilled alcohol, and brewed very traditionally. However, our style is always to lean to what people like to drink here, so Sumi, our first baby, is certainly more dry and savoury than perhaps a typical lighter sweeter Japanese sake (I generalise there!). Over time, we are getting a bit more playful. We have just launched a lower ABV yuzu and cucumber flavoured sparkling sake, and a new plum sake, Hana, meaning ‘flower’. It’s packed full of British plums and barrel-aged for six months in French oak casks, making it both fruity and complex, and perfect for summer sipping.
Lockdown has been truly a devastating time for the hospitality industry. It's sink or swim, so we have been trying to throw everything at it. We had huge plans for our taproom this summer and a series of events, and it's been such a blow to miss out on a lot of that and have people come join the fun, especially in all this sunshine. So our main focus has been on launching our own online shop so we can do deliveries directly from the brewery.
Our passion lies in recreating that casual, fun feeling in Japanese izakayas. There’s nothing more rewarding than somebody sitting at your bar and simply enjoying what you have crafted. When we host supper clubs with sake pairings, the atmosphere is electric – it's a real buzz.
The real reason we got crazed for sake was the wild and wonderful nights spent in tiny bars in Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto. Sake unites people – you pour for one another, strangers mingle and it is just magical.”
For Kanpai sake, taproom tastings and events, visit kanpai.london
Photography: Burcin Ergunt (portraits); Kanpai London Ltd
@kanpailondon
The sleek interior of Kanpai’s Peckham-based brewery