Location: 48 Druid Street
Opening hours: Saturday 1200-2230
Other days: Sunday 1200-1900, Wednesday-Thursday 1700-2200, Friday 1700-2230
Official site: https://kanpai.london/visit
Last updated: 21/01/2024
Oh, this is difficult. You’ve seen the title – this is the website for the Bermondsey Beer Mile. Should we be including places that don’t really do beer? Sure, there are venues like Hawkes (RIP) and Gosnells that don’t really fit into the Mile, but they serve liquids that come in pints and look like beer from a distance. But what the hell do we do with a sake brewery? We’re thinking that given the drop in the number of places on the Mile that brew their own booze, and the process of making sake is brewing, we could bend the rules (assuming there are rules) to include them. Let us know if you disagree.
So, let’s talk about Kanpai, one of the new openings on the Mile in 2023. Tucked in just next door to Southwark Brewing, it’s incredibly welcoming: big windows, lots of wood and the odd lantern or barrel scattered around for ethnic decoration. On our visit during the runup to Christmas, there were quite a few couples drinking there – it’s possible its brightly lit appearance is attracting an audience beyond the usual beer hounds.
And yes, the USP in this case is sake. Eight different varieties on tap, several more in bottles, and a decent view of the tanks where they make it in the back. They’re as capable of being gimmicky as the beer vendors on this street: on our particular visit they had mulled and Christmas pudding varieties. If you feel you must stick to beer, they have a couple available – on the day we had the choice of going macro with Asahi, or staying micro with a By The Horns collaboration brew. They’ve also got various food options inspired by the stuff you’d find in a proper Japanese izakaya: we’ve earmarked the katsu sando for our next visit.
Should we be talking about Kanpai here? Still not sure. We’ll probably have Jensen’s Gin breathing down our necks now we’ve crossed this particular line. (Distilling isn’t brewing, though.) But for now, we’ll leave it in.
Now walk 160m to The Barrel Project ----->
<----- or go back 3m to Southwark Brewing
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