“Ask Beau” – “What are some of your favorite Sake Day memories?”
I love Sake Day after Sake Day! I know that sounds weird, but I am working so much to make a good event for the guests that I rarely get to enjoy the event. I certainly like pouring the welcome sake. That is always a highlight for me! It’s pretty awesome seeing faces that have been coming to Sake Day for over a decade. Some folks I only see once a year as I am pouring them their welcome sake. In one sense that sort of stinks, but in another sense it’s pretty cool – “See you next year!”
I do know this! Almost every Sake Day I lose something! It’s true. And it keeps me on my toes. One year after set up I was in my rental truck changing out of my sweaty clothes into dryer and fresher looking duds. I locked the pull down shutter gate and walked into the event. I reached into my pocket and my wallet was gone. Don’t you have that feeling. So I went back to the truck and looked every where and no wallet. Then people came out and said that they needed me and I had to just leave it. It was a crummy feeling, but it ended well later when I found the thing down in a crack in near the driver’s seat.
One year I lost a case of sake. Yup! I am sure that you’re saying, so what! This case happened to be air-shipped directly from a brewery in Japan for the owner to collect at Sake Day. He flew over from Akita specifically for Sake Day and he only had that case of sake to pour. Ughhhh! It was so frustrating, but we eventually found the case under another vendor’s table. I once lost the black socks that we used for the Sake Challenge tables to “obscure” the bottles for each challenge. Yup! You guessed it! We found the socks and the party carried on.
The biggest “lost” had to be when I lost our band for Sake Day when we had it at the SF Jewish Community Center. After their first set, they said that they were going to take a break! Cool! So I thought. It was a great Okinawian Band that came and performed at many Sake Days, and they are great people. They also like to party. So after about a half hour I went to look for them. They were nowhere to be found. I got sort of frustrated, and kept looking and looking. Finally it dawned on me to look behind this huge red stage curtain, and voila! I saw the 8 members of the band sitting cross-legged on the floor each drinking their bottles of sake that I gave them as a thank you for playing the event. “Those are for AFTER the event!” I laughed and the show went on!
One year I promise to enjoy Sake Day in the moment!