Jason Cooper’s fascination with Japanese foods and drinks started when he lived in Kyoto, Japan whereas going to language faculty. “It’s been a 20-year rabbit gap for me,” he says.
After initially specializing in Japanese delicacies with a meals truck referred to as Wabi Sabi Kitchen, Cooper determined to open a sake brewery at residence in Pennsylvania. Sango Kura opened in Delaware Water Hole in July 2018 and Cooper poured the primary sake the next November. In 2022, he added Rewind Brewing, working collectively along with his spouse, Melissa Hirschhorn, to convey the imaginative and prescient to life.
Sango Kura serves a Junmai Ginjo sake that’s dry hopped with Galaxy and Mosaic. “It has the nostril of an IPA and is floral and fruity,” Cooper explains. This, he believes, is an effective way to get beer drinkers all for attempting one thing new. And providing nice meals alongside each beer and sake stays a key focus, with a menu consisting of izakaya pub dishes impressed by Japanese delicacies. “We make all of our noodles by hand,” says Cooper.
The brewery’s location in Delaware Water Hole is right: simply as water high quality is essential to a implausible beer, so too for sake. “If you happen to take a look at a setting of a sake brewery in Japan, it’s all the time proper on prime of the most effective water supply,” Cooper says. “The water has a lot to do with the standard of sake, as a result of the flavors are so mild and delicate.”
Koji—cooked rice inoculated with a tradition—is the stuff of life for sake. At Sango Kura, the crew makes its personal regardless of the intensive course of. “We soak our rice, steam it, after which convey it right into a sterile room that we warmth as much as about 100 levels for about three days,” Cooper explains. He even stays on the brewery throughout fermentation in order that he could make a fast adjustment if the temperature will get too sizzling. “It’s a extremely stunning course of.”
Craft Curious
In London, Kanpai (named for a Japanese toast) is a craft sake brewery that was based in 2016. The brewery began life in Peckham, with a taproom launch in 2018 earlier than shifting to a brand new residence in Bermondsey in 2023. The situation among the many densely packed cluster of breweries in what is named the Bermondsey Beer Mile—a hotspot for craft drinkers on a taproom crawl—means extra passing commerce, particularly on Saturdays.
“As a result of we’re on the Beer Mile, we’re extra seen,” says co-founder and head brewer Tom Wilson. Kanpai’s draft-focused taproom creates an surroundings the place beer drinkers really feel proper at residence, and their common excursions supply an academic facet for individuals who are curious in regards to the sake brewing course of. Wilson discovered a pure alignment with sake, craft beer, and pure wine. “It was all the time about having a extremely accessible craft product [for] curious, discerning drinkers,” he says. Their sake taproom amid a beer hub provides simply that.
Kanpai has additionally collaborated with craft breweries. They labored with Surrey-based brewery By The Horns to provide Shiro, a Japanese white ale brewed with rice, shiso (an fragrant herb), and yuzu (a bumpy citrus fruit).
“What we’re serving on draft is what we name nama sake,” says Wilson, explaining that this model is unpasteurized and uncooked. It’s finest consumed contemporary, and higher nonetheless on the premises on which it was made. “It’s very uncommon to get nama sake touring exterior of Japan.”
Kanpai’s vary provides one thing for all tastes, from 8% ABV choices resembling a candy plum sake, and one other that’s glowing and dry hopped with Nelson Sauvin. There’s additionally a white koji sake that checks in at 16.5% ABV. “White koji makes citric acid, which yellow koji doesn’t,” Wilson explains. “It makes a extremely acidic sake that form of drinks extra like a white wine.”
Many UK drinkers have encountered sake in sushi eating places, however in lots of circumstances, they’re nonetheless new to exploring craft sake. And whereas lots of the sakes imported from Japan will be extra delicate, Wilson notes that many purchasers are fast emigrate to the heavy hitters. “First time, they may begin with one thing mild, after which they get extra adventurous.”
Bridging the Hole
In Covina, Calif., Nova Brewing is one other producer making each sake and beer, after taking on a former craft beer premises (as soon as operated by REV Brewing Firm). Nova’s Gravity sake is designed to showcase the state’s Calrose rice, which is polished to 50%. Sprucing is the method by which outer layers of grain are milled away, eradicating protein from the rice which might impression the ultimate style of the sake. Much less rice sharpening might sometimes leads to a full physique and extra umami taste, whereas extra sharpening can produce a cleaner and lighter sake.
Nova Brewing was based in 2019, and whereas the crew waited for a couple of yr to get a sake license, they started making beer. The crew’s Ginjo 7 beer challenge was a mission to bridge the 2 drinks by brewing beer with sake yeast. “Once I check batched making beer with sake yeast it created related aroma and taste profiles to Belgian model beers… lots of fruity esters,” co-founder and head brewer James Jin says. An added advantage of utilizing sake yeast for beer isn’t having to fret about cross-contamination when making each in the identical facility.
The beer is brewed with steamed rice and a easy Pilsner grain invoice, then fermented at chilly temperatures as with sake brewing. The yeast, Kyokai #701, can simply face up to lagering temperatures. “Our aim with the Ginzo 7 beer was to get craft beer drinkers into sake extra,” Jin says, including that folks will typically are available for a beer flight and can sometimes additionally find yourself attempting some sake afterwards, simply discovering one which they like.
For Sango Kura, Kanpai, and Nova Brewing, making a aware determination to have interaction craft beer drinkers helps them take their sake companies to new audiences. “We realized that we have to make what we name sake segue merchandise, for those who don’t actually find out about sake, or those that suppose they don’t prefer it,” Cooper says.
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