Newsletter 8/17: 🌻 Sunflower reopening & Seasonal sake club Summer release 🌻

For those who don't follow the Sunflower instagram, this may come as a surprise:

Sunflower Sake has a new home!

 

 

It's a happy accident that the historic Olympic Mills building at SE Washington & 2nd St is a beautiful, bright sunflower yellow, and in a wonderfully central location-- convenient to just about everywhere. Buildout and permitting has been underway since July 1st, and provided everything proceeds according to schedule, Sunflower Sake will reopen Tuesday, October 4th! And in the lead-up to opening, you can expect a few celebratory events and classes to happen as well.

This new home is TINY-- just how I like it, keeps costs down and sake affordable-- but has access to enormous public spaces for special events and classes. Not only that, the building ownership has graciously offered public seating in the foyer for Sunflower guests with accessibility needs. YAY! All are welcome here :)

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What can we expect in the new Sunflower Sake?

Sunflower will continue to offer a wide array of Japanese sake with a special focus on seasonality. But with this added space, I'm excited to be able to expand into a few new categories:

American craft sake: my goal has always been to develop American sake culture, and part of this is making Sunflower the #1 spot in the US to taste a variety of American craft sake and learn about the American craft sake movement. On opening day, be sure to order the American craft sake flight: a selection of bottles specially hand-carried to Portland, to share with you.

Zero proof: with so many sober friends myself, offering a selection of nuanced, exciting zero-proof beverages is a given! I'm looking at options that deliver sake-like levels of terroir and nuance, including tea, vinegar, botanical and amazake-based drinks. I intend to put the same love and attention into the zero-proof options as I do for sake options.

Snack menu: think classic wine bar snack menu, but with a lot of extra care and attention, changing seasonally, and with pairing recommendations for each snack. The idea isn't to be a dinner spot (sorry-- the shop is just too small to accommodate that!) but you can put together a nice range of snacks to stay satisfied and learn all about sake/food pairing.

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That's so exciting! But hey, what's up with the Seasonal Sake Club?

Great question, and I owe you folks an update!

As of today, all 4 Summer sake are FINALLY in and the last one is en route to Sunflower this afternoon. Which means a club update email is headed your way later this week! YAY! 🌻

For those unfamiliar with the Seasonal Sake Club, it is a quarterly subscription featuring 4 bottles of very limited, seasonal release sake from Japan. A beer analogy might be a watermelon ale in Summer, or a fresh hop IPA in Fall. Right now, we're anticipating the arrival of natsuzake: Summer sake, which is Japan's newest seasonal category and therefore, one of the most diverse and open to interpretation. Some breweries do undiluted sake for enjoying on the rocks-- others go hard on juicy, ripe, fresh melon flavor. Whatever "Summer" means to the toji, that's what's in your glass.

How is club pickup going to work?

Well, club members are going to get a sneak preview of the shop in progress is how! Summer club pickup is tentatively set for Wednesday the 24th-Friday the 26th by appointment at 107 SE Washington St. #121, Sunflower's new home. I'll take you through a tasting of the summer natsuzake personally. We have use of the building's common seating, so you can hang a while and enjoy your seasonal flight.

If you've been on the fence about the seasonal club and think you might like to take the dive, I have inventory for only 2 more club members. 🌻🌻 That's it-- once it's gone it's gone, and we're waiting for Hiyaoroshi in November 🍂