Pechanga Resort & Casino already has events dedicated to beer and wine, but they’ve added another drink-themed event to their roster. The star attraction this time? Sake.
About 400 people are expected to pour into the Pechanga Summit on Saturday, April 20, for the first-ever Sake and Beer Festival, where they’ll be able to sample more than 40 varieties of the rice wine as well as beer and Japanese food. A taiko drummer, guitarist and harpist will play traditional Japanese music for the event. There will also be a silent auction.
The event, which takes place from 1-3 p.m., will raise funds for Habitat for Humanity Inland Valley just like the Chocolate Decadence & Pechanga Wine Festival and Pechanga Microbrew Fest & Chili Cook Off do.
Duane Owen, executive chef for the resort, said Pechanga has had a lot of success with both the wine and microbrew events, seeing increases in attendance for both events on a year-over-year basis. He said the resort had been considering adding another event since even before completion of its $300 million expansion. With that being done, it made sense to make a new event happen.
Owen said there were a couple different reasons that sake was chosen.
“We looked at the different options,” Owen said. “We already do the beer, we already do the wine. We actually looked at bourbon and spirits and all those as well but we ask our team members, we ask our guests even more so, in surveys, what they want to see. Because our players — that drives what we do here.”
He said the surveys of Pechanga’s gaming clientele indicated that guests would have an interest in an event based around sake.
Some of the sake styles Owen said visitors will be able try are daiginjo, ginjo and junmai ginjo.
Unfamiliar with those styles? No problem. Owen, along with Umi head chef Kiyo Ikeda and Pechanga’s Asian restaurants sous chef Kok Che, will be at the event to meet with guests, hand out sushi and give suggestions on sushi-sake pairings.
Sushi is just one of seven different food stations that festival guests will be able to check out. The other six will serve miso and ramen; somen (a kind of thin udon noodle); a zensai station of Japanese appetizers that includes wagyu beef; sashimi, mini bento boxes and a dessert station with items crafted by Pechanga’s executive pastry chef Jean-Jacques Granet.
If you’re more of a beer person, there will be some beer option, including an assortment of Japanese beers such as black beers, as well as dry European beers.
What’s Owen’s favorite part? The planning required to get everything going.
“That’s what my role here at Pechanga is, is to make sure we bring this stuff to life when we have these ideas,” he said.
He said he’s at a point where he feels like things are coming together.
“Right now we’re at the marketing part, and the menus, and ordering the food,” he said. “We’re having a taste testing to make sure the food and everything matches. It’s just a lot of fun as we go through it. We do it every year with the chocolate and the food and the chili so it’s all just part of keeping that energy going.”
If you go
Where: Pechanga Summit and Pechanga Resort & Casino, 45000 Pechanga Parkway, Temecula.
When: 1-3 p.m. April 20
Tickets: $75 general admission and $150 VIP, 21 and older only. VIP tickets get guests access to the venue an hour earlier.
Information: 877-711-2946, pechanga.com.