Sake Desu: Who Are We?

Hey! My name is Maxfield from Sake Desu.

I stumbled into the sake world unexpectedly. Having just left a job teaching preschool, I met a sake importer who took a shining to my strong sense of curiosity. I began working for him, mostly delivering sake to restaurants and grocery stores around Portland. Around the same time I helped open a small Japanese restaurant with a friend and became the de facto sake buyer. I knew I needed to learn a lot fast. Luckily, I had excellent teachers. They told me to read sake books cover to cover in order to satisfy my need for knowledge. Within a year I had gone to Japan, was conducting educational tastings at restaurants and grocery stores, and was receiving recognition for the sake program at our little Japanese restaurant. 

That’s when Emma Evans, owner of Portland Night Market and Snackfest, approached me about collaborating on a brand new sake bar. Emma loves sake, and she started Sake Desu as an outlet for that love. But for years Emma couldn’t find a partner who was knowledgeable or passionate enough to bring Sake Desu to life. When she met me and saw my love for sake, we both knew that amazing things were possible.

Our mission at Sake Desu is simple: to introduce the love of sake to as many people as possible. It’s an ancient, powerful, creative product made by passionate craftspeople. Every bit as complex as wine, it goes excellently with food of all types, tastes different at every temperature, and contains a wide spectrum of flavors, textures, and aromas. It brings me deep pleasure to join people in their discovery of sake, and hopefully teach them a thing or two along the way. Come to the Sake Desu tasting room to try an interesting and ever-rotating list of excellent sake. Who knows, maybe we’ll become friends in the process.

Sincerely, 

Maxfield