‘I’m going for a fantasy Wes Anderson movie with heavy metal’: Portland’s upcoming distillery is anything but ordinary

Published 5:00 am Thursday, July 24, 2025

Ethan Miller was raised Mormon in Salt Lake City, Utah. His first taste of alcohol was at 23 years old during a wine tasting seminar in California.

A few years prior, Miller had left the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That’s when he started “dipping his toes” into the world of alcohol.

“Typically, when I try something new, I do a lot of research before I do it. Drinking was no different,” he said.

Miller, founder of Magian Distilling, is opening this unique production facility in Southeast Portland — most likely. Still in the process of securing the perfect spot, he plans to be in Southeast Portland, as it’s near where he lives.

“I’m going for a fantasy Wes Anderson movie with heavy metal,” Miller described of his vision for the aesthetic.

In the coming years, Miller said he plans to open multiple tasting rooms across the state.

Magian Distilling combines nature, science and magic to conjure spirits with care. All spirits will be made in-house by award-winning master distiller Miller, including an absinthe.

“It has a certain mystique about it,” he said of the traditionally anise-flavored spirit.

Miller has always tried to make a living as an artist, holding many careers from being an optician to geological pouring to mixed martial arts. Distilling became the art medium that he could earn a living from.

He worked at High West Distillery in Utah for a few years before moving to Portland. Though a distiller position opened up at High West, he didn’t have the master’s degree needed to secure the position, so he came to see what distilleries were in the Rose City.

A few weeks later, he started working at New Deal Distillery, learning from master distiller Tom Burkleaux for about two years. Then, he was recruited to start a large Utah-based project called Dented Brick Distillery.

After 2020, Miller returned to Portland after realizing Utah wasn’t the place for him.

Now, he said he feels a responsibility to rekindle the service and craft drink industry in the city, and give people some respite from the current turmoil in the world.

He got the idea for Magian Distilling around 2022 and started looking for spaces in 2023, while still working as head distiller at 503 Distilling.

Plans came to a halt when Miller got sick last summer.

“I still don’t really understand what all happened,” he said.

Miller had been diagnosed with COVID-19 multiple times prior, which doctors said he never really recovered from, resulting in autoimmune issues, including inhibiting his ability to walk at times and causing severe arthritis.

“I struggle to do things some days, so those were some unique challenges that kind of woke me to think, ‘Why am I waiting?'” Miller said.

In April, Miller was laid off from 503 Distilling. Within the same month, he had to put down his 18-year-old dog, among a few other notable life-changing events.

“This is a season of new beginnings,” he said. “Let’s do what I can to make it magical.”

Miller comes from a love of nature and a lineage of circus magicians and mathematicians. His grandfather both performed in the circus and taught math.

“He inspired a lot of this underlying feeling of mixing science, magic and nature,” Miller explained.

His great-grandfather was the dean of physics at the University of South Dakota, and his great-great-grand uncle Carl Ethan Akeley, whom he was named after, is widely considered the father of modern taxidermy.

“I’ve been chasing his stories my whole life,” Miller said.

Miller’s three focal points for Magian Distilling — nature, science and magic — go hand in hand with the distilling process, he said. Ingredients come from nature, and they are transformed through science, which is perceived as magical.

“It’s in our nature to explain the magic with science,” he said.

All of the products Miller will offer are unique, new recipes. Some will be versions of distillates he’s made before, but others will be brand new. Each product will highlight specific things, such as a particular person or tell a story.

As a distiller, Miller said he will work with restaurants, bars, wineries and breweries to continue his mission of banding together as a community. He aims to invest back into the community and provide a service where everyone feels welcome all the time.

“I really think that is our path to maintaining civility in this world right now,” Miller said. “To look inward and look at our neighbors.”

Find more about Magian Distilling at magiandistilling.com.