Always on
This project successfully funded on 16th March 2026, you can still support them with a donation.
Nania's Wildbrew Kombucha Brewery
Bristol, Bristol City, United Kingdom
Aim
We’re raising funds to build a proper fermentation room and walk-in fridge, the next step in scaling genuinely RAW, Bristol-made kombucha.
Since our beginnings during lockdown, selling kombucha at Whiteladies Road Farmers’ Market, we’ve been brewing kombucha the same way we always have: raw, unpasteurised, and properly fermented.
Nania’s Wildbrew began as a side project to Nania’s Vineyard, our English wine company inspired by an allotment vineyard in Montpelier. But over time, kombucha became the clear focus.
After five years of brewing in our garage, we took the plunge last summer — completing the pivot away from wine and moving into a dedicated brewery space in Easton.
Demand has grown, but our current setup now limits how much we can produce efficiently and sustainably. This campaign is about taking the next measured step: scaling the brewery properly, with purpose-built fermentation and cold storage — backed by confirmed grant funding.
Right now, we’re brewing with an improvised setup: heated cupboards for fermentation and retail display fridges for cold storage. It works — but it limits how much we can make, how efficiently we can run, and results in higher energy use than a purpose-built system.
The planned upgrade replaces this with a purpose-built fermentation room and walk-in fridge, increasing capacity from 2 barrels to up to 15, improving consistency, and significantly reducing energy use. The project is fully planned, supplier quotes are in, and a time-limited 40% green business grant has already been awarded. This crowdfunder provides the match funding needed to unlock the grant and begin the build.
This crowdfunder is also a pre-sale. By backing the project, you can pre-order a set of exclusive collaboration kombuchas brewed as part of the scale-up.
These are one-off collab releases, made in small batches and available only through this campaign. Backers get first access to the cans and help fund the upgrade that makes them possible.
We brew kombucha the way a winemaker treats a great vintage: by starting with exceptional raw ingredients and letting fermentation do the work.
That begins with single-estate loose-leaf green tea from Rare Tea Company, sourced directly from farms committed to sustainable, regenerative growing practices. Every tea is selected because it tastes outstanding, supports the people who grow it, and protects the long-term health of the land. We also give one percent of our total kombucha sales (including this crowdfunder!) to support the Rare Charity, helping fund education in tea-growing communities in Malawi.
Using whole, unprocessed tea creates a cleaner base for fermentation and preserves natural complexity. When that tea is fermented slowly with our house SCOBY, it produces a complex, living drink that’s easier to digest and naturally supports gut health - not through additives or shortcuts (like dried and powdered bacteria), but through real fermentation. We ferment in oak barrels, then can-condition the kombucha so it continues to evolve gently in the can. It’s raw, unpasteurised, and alive — brewed for depth, balance, and integrity, from soil to culture to gut.
Most kombucha is no longer alive by the time it reaches the shelf. Heat treatment - pasteurisation and sterile filtration, strips out the living culture that defines real fermentation.
In practical terms, if a “kombucha” isn’t sold out of a fridge, it isn’t really kombucha in our book. There’s currently no legal definition of what kombucha has to be in the UK, which means products can be labelled as kombucha without being fermented at all.
Ours is different.
Every can of Nania’s Wildbrew contains an active, living SCOBY - a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeasts created through real fermentation, not added afterwards. That culture remains alive in the can, continuing to evolve slowly until it’s enjoyed.
So we make a simple, verifiable promise:
If you can’t grow a SCOBY from one of our cans, we’ll refund you.
That’s our SCOBY Guarantee. It’s printed on every can because it’s not a marketing claim - it’s proof.
Back the brew - pledge your support by clicking here.
S.C.O.B.Y. wrangling outside our first 'nano' brewery in our garage on Nania's Vineyard in Montpelier.
Once the campaign ends, the West of England Combined Authority (WECA) match funding unlocks the grant and the build can begin. Collaboration cans are then brewed, packaged, and delivered in line with the reward timelines. Kombucha production continues throughout and backers are kept updated at every stage. You're coming along for the ride and it'll be great to have you onboard!
Thank you for taking the time to read, back, share, or support this project in any way. Independent fermentation only works because people care about how things are made — and choose to support craft, patience, and integrity over shortcuts.
This crowdfunder isn’t just about equipment. It’s about protecting a way of brewing that keeps kombucha raw, alive, and led by fermentation rather than convenience. Your support helps keep that approach viable, local, and independent.
I’m genuinely grateful to have a community that believes in doing things properly. Thank you for being part of this next chapter.
James
Founder, Nania’s Wildbrew
Click here to get your Early Bird Mix-Box
This is where it all began. 1st ever market day on Whiteladies Road back in lockdown, can you spot the hand sanitiser? Note I didn't even have labels for my kombucha bottles!
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made