CORNING, CA – The Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians has announced the official public grand opening of its newest enterprise, the Paskenta Brewery and Distillery. Located within the Rolling Hills Casino and Resort, the Paskenta Brewery and Distillery is a completely self-contained brewhouse and fine spirit distillery outfitted with state-of-the-art fermenting and production capabilities.
“We are excited to welcome our guests to the first tribal-owned distillery in California, the Paskenta Brewery and Distillery, where guests can enjoy our carefully crafted beers and liquors,” said Tribal Chairman Andrew “Dru” Alejandre. “We always strive to invest in businesses that will build a sustainable future for our tribe and the community at large. We are proud to be in a position to offer new job opportunities for our community that allow them to express their creativity.”
The Paskenta Brewery and Distillery is part of the tribe’s casino expansion efforts that broke ground in 2019. The enterprise also marks a new milestone as the first tribally-owned distillery in California. While many tribes’ own breweries, distilleries offer a new opportunity for tribal communities to build diversified revenues through deliberate investments into their own economy. With the repeal of the Indian Trade and Intercourse Act, dating back to 1834, the Paskenta tribe, along with 573 other Native American tribes, now have the right to distill liquor on tribal lands.
The Paskenta Brewery and Distillery was conceived as a result of the tribe’s desire to create a unique and visionary tribute to the gifts of nature. The tribe has also placed a large uncut obsidian stone, which has ties to the tribe’s ancestors, under the glass dome of the distillery’s spirit safe where all spirits will be dripped through for filtering, which marks the product’s transformative journey from a raw material to the final product.
Master brewers and distillers will create the very best bourbons, vodkas, and other carefully crafted liquors and spirits. Beers are brewed with flavorful grains – each with its own signature character and taste that will be long remembered after the last mug is raised and emptied.
The annual production of the Brewery and Distillery is estimated at 1,260 barrels per year, or 39,060 gallons.
In addition, the tribe’s newest enterprise has also created new employment opportunities for the community, offering competitive wages and benefits. The tribe is one of the top-three largest employers in Tehama County and through the casino expansion project, the tribe has employed more than 100 new team members for positions in all departments of the casino and resort.
