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Sunflower Sake

@sunflowersake

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🌻 PDX sake shop & bar 🌻
107 SE Washington St, 121
1-7 PM ~Friday 2-8 ~Closed Monday
Nationwide shipping 💌 $30
Annual sake fest: @fuyufest

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Chocolate flight this week!, plus the return of oden, Portal to the Past x2, Pink sake flight, Atsukanbuu, and a very special ~free!~ pairing event at the end of this month with @astralpdx ❤️ plus! Slow Bar Ma coffee with Boulet snacks this coming Sunday-Monday.

let fall begin 🍁 by @sunflowersake

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18 days ago

Next Wednesday, 10/21 we're pouring a flight of pink/red-hued sake, many of which are longtime favorites of ours. $20 to taste 4 (or free with puchase of any 2 bottles) + $8 to add a bonus. Drop in from 4-7PM or try Thursday if we don't sell out.

(pro move: reserve a bowl of oden to enjoy with your flight for $15)

There are a few different ways you can get this color naturally: 1) by brewing with red (black) rice, 2) by fermenting with a type of yeast that gives off red pigment, 3) by brewing with red-colored koji (Japan) or red yeast rice (mostly in mainland Asia), or 4) through the addition of fruits/herbs like strawberries or purple shiso.

Your flight will explore them all, and with it a range of unexpected notes from rose petals to sweet root vegetables, wild berry tea, goji berry, grapefruit and strawberry! taken in Sunflower Sake by @sunflowersake

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8 hours ago

Update: General is full! DM for waitlist.

On Thursday, Oct. 29 we are hosting a 100% free sake pairing seminar with small bites from @astralpdx , co-hosted by yours truly & a sommelier I deeply admire, @markgotelli of the wine bar Heavenly Creatures here in PDX.

Each session includes a brief overview of sake styles: how it's made, some key terminology, general knowledge you'll use to understand the pairings we put together. This is followed up by a series of 4 small bites + 4 sake pairings that Mark and I collaborated on, based on Astral's incredible Fall menu.

Two sessions are available:

1. 2-3:30PM : Food/beverage industry
2. 5-6:30PM : General access
Sign up in @sunflowersake IG bio or at sunflowersake.com in the calendar or events sections.

* Note: Session 1 is reserved for F&B industry, but will be opened to general if space remains 4 days before the event.

* As of this post, ~10 spots remain in general & 25 in the industry session.
I look forward to seeing you there :)

👏 My sincerest gratitude goes out to the "Japan. Kanpai! To the world" campaign for their generous support of this event. taken in Sunflower Sake by @sunflowersake

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5 days ago

Atsukanbuu!!!

5 years in business party + Atsukanbuu season opener - next Friday, 10/16 from 6-7:30PM

Last Fall I attended Atsukanbuu with my good friend Nishide-san @nishidesake hosted by the wonderful @yukawa0017

We all learned how to make hot sake (aka atsukan aka okan) together while enjoying a plate of snacks (gyoza, mini oden, tsukemono, kinpira) and sharing our creations with each other. It's almost like... a simpler version of baking a bunch of pies and meeting up to enjoy each others' pies and then talking about how amazing everyone's pies are.

I really loved tasting atsukan prepared by my neighbors, even when it was the same sake. And some people brought their own bottles to heat up and share (you can, too!) Honestly it was the nicest experience and such a fun way to socialize and become comfortable with sake warming. Anyway, to celebrate our 5-year anniversary we'd love you to come hang out at Sunflower next Friday from 6-7:30 to enjoy hot sake together.

Sign up is in bio ❤️
10/16 from 6-7:30PM
$35pp
includes sake instruction, drinks, & snack plate ⛹️‍♀️ taken in Sunflower Sake by @sunflowersake

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9 days ago

Oden season is here 🍁

Our Fall menu is back, bb!
Starting ~5:30PM tonight (or once it's ready), we will have ~12 servings available per week by reservation or walk-in. Our oden is pescetarian except during scheduled vegan oden weeks (next one: mid-Nov) or the odd meat-themed week.

$25 includes a snack to start (could be tsukemono, shisomaki, or something else) + oden moriawase + a pour of dealer's choice sake. We don't accept tips, so basically, it's $25 all-in for a nice little evening 🍢
If you prefer to skip the snacks or get a flight instead, a'la carte oden is $15.

To reserve, send an email or DM us with your name, party size, and preferred date/time. Last call for oden is an hour before close.

P.S. This means oden chizu is also back🧀

いただきます ❤️ taken in Sunflower Sake by @sunflowersake

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12 days ago

Next week, we return to our Portal to the Past series, tackling the Meiji period.

Drop in anytime starting Wednesday, October 7th from 4PM and continuing until sold out (usually mid-Thursday). Your $20 flight includes 4 pours at 45ml and a two-sided informational sheet with historical background on each sake & the era under investigation. If you'd like to bring (any!) two 720ml bottles home, your $20 flight is free :)

📚 Background! 📚
I'm resisting the urge to break this brief, but hugely influential, period into two parts-- it's a crazy time!! The Meiji Jidai, named for Emperor Meiji, is when Japan moved from a shogun (military) state to an imperial one and 250 years of isolation came to an end. Seeing the consolidation of global power in European hands and the consequent subjugation of agricultural nations, the visionary young emperor Meiji and his entourage plucked Japan from its traditional, agricultural path and set it on a path of modernization, technology, nationalism, colonialism, and radical cultural change.

But change is complex and often violent, and this era is no exception.
🔬 Sake technologies: selective breeding, isolating yeasts, the development of yamahai and sokujo;
💰 Economic circumstances: how sake funded Japan's modernization;
🎠 Culture: Sake's rough debut at the first World Exposition & the world's first foreign breweries;
🌾 Farming & the laboring class: increasing economic divides, rising rice supply, socioeconomic time-bombs
⚔️ Colonialism: embroilment in Taiwan, Korea, China, Ezo and Kamchatka taken in Sunflower Sake by @sunflowersake

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17 days ago

The shelves are finally restocked with a wealth of vintage wares, silk coasters from Suwa’s silk museum, and a few incredible hand-blown glass beauties from Toyama, just in time for holiday shopping in the cool months. We were off schedule this time for any major craft shows, but stumbled into a ton of thrift stores and other markets that specialize in recovered akiya furnishings: charming, well loved, ready for a new chapter.

These and more can be found in-shop and on the website later this week ✨ by @sunflowersake

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18 days ago

Well as far as I know, we are the only bar in town with The Big Game on tomorrow!

Depending on the lower divisions' schedules, we'll start the evening at 11:30 with Day 14 highlights or the Japanese Abema stream, then switch to an English livestream for Makuuchi.

No RSVP required, just come hang out!

EDIT: yakitori by @yoru.yaki taken in Sunflower Sake by @sunflowersake

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23 days ago

It's that time again! We'll be streaming the final day of the Grand Sumo Aki Basho live in the loading dock from 11:30 PM this Saturday night.

We'll be providing some choice sake pours to go with @yoru.yaki yakitori. Come snacky, come thirsty! taken in Sunflower Sake by @sunflowersake

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25 days ago

The days are still sunny and warm, but that crisp in the air is undeniable 🌾 And as much as we love our natsuzake, there is something thrilling about the first Fall hiyaoroshi of the year.

🌰 Jyoku Squirrel Party from Hachinohe is the cozy all-rounder you want, no, need with your first hotpot night of the season.

🍂 Kisoji's seasonal releases have always been Sunflower house favorites, and this year's Junmai Genshu is reminding me why: notes of cinnamon, persimmon, spiced cider and poached pear lightened up by a surprising effervescence.

🍁 Shonai Bijin Hiyaoroshi Kimoto from Dewanoyuki in Yamagata is not subtle with the Fall vibes. Maple, chestnut, and vanilla custard cream hit you in gentle waves. Molly is trying really hard not to tell everyone she thinks it tastes like a McGriddle.

💎 Ohmine Aiyama Muroka Nama Genshu has you covered if you're not ready for all this cozy, Autumnal goodness. Impossibly silky, like the almond tofu of your dreams. The most delicate of delicate aromas of opal apples and violets.

An embarrassment of riches and it's only September! taken in Sunflower Sake by @sunflowersake

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a month ago

This October, we’ll be celebrating our 5 year anniversary 🥳
I’m going to use this as an excuse to kick off our first official Atsukanbuu season (holler @atsukanbuuu !!) with a lil event on Friday October 16th

Here’s how it works:
Ticket = $35
Time = 6-7:30pm
What = ~20 minutes of sake heating instruction & advice, followed by 1 hour of free practice: heating, experimenting, sharing what you made, being shared with
attendees will be split into groups of 4-6 to a table with their own tools, + everyone gets a snack plate and sake ticket. You get to exchange your ticket for a 180ml carafe of a sake of your choosing to try warming for the group. The table gets one extra ticket to share and choose together 🤗

Sunflower folks will mosey around offering support and some tastes of our own!

This is a fun, chill, social event to hang with a group of fellow sake lovers and practice atsukan together ☺️ this is the season kick-off, but we’ll be hosting more appx monthly throughout the year! We might even jump around to other host spots (DM me if you wanna host one! 👋) we also encourage you to host your own atsukanbuu party/meetup.

It’s been our goal to grow hot sake culture in Portland for the last 5 years and it’s time to really set that goal into action.

Signup in bio 👆 by @sunflowersake

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a month ago

Attention night owls and sumo heads!

Because it was such a good time in July, we're getting together to watch the last day of the Grand Sumo Fall Tournament Live in the loading dock! Molly will be pouring from the BIG bottles, and @yoru.yaki is once again slingin' yakitori if the weather permits~
Saturday, September 26th, 11:30 PM - 2:30 AM-ish

I (Molly) am pumped to host live watch parties for every basho, but maybe not have it be such a huge thing every time! After this event, we'll be settling down into a cozier vibe. Drop a line to our DMs or my shop email to get on my Portland sumo watch party newsletter!

See y'all there~ taken in Sunflower Sake by @sunflowersake

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a month ago