Travel
One of the best reasons to take a trip is to see how people in other cultures eat and drink — and to join in the fun. Our travel section includes trip reports from all over the world, with deep dives into the vineyards, breweries, distilleries, and bars you’ll find there.
Top Travel Posts:
A Visit to the Don Julio Tequila Distillery
Where to Drink in Asheville, North Carolina
A Visit to Suntory’s Yamazaki Distillery
Harvest in Chile’s Casablanca Valley – A Dusty Paradise
Revisiting the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, 2018
A Visit to Jack Daniel’s Distillery
Exploring Port Wine: Touring Porto and the Douro Valley
Drinking the Costa del Sol – A Trip from Barcelona, Spain to Lisbon, Portugal
I can offer no good excuse for never having visited the Tri-Valley region in northern California. The area, which includes the towns of Danville, Livermore, Pleasanton, and Dublin, is a whopping 45 minute drive from San Francisco. There’s even BART train service, at least nearby. The region serves primarily as a bedroom community for people…
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In August 2020, corporate marketer and consultant Douglas Watters was sitting on his bed when a name popped into his head: Spirited Away. With no prior beverage experience — but a burgeoning passion for zero-proof drinks — Watters couldn’t shake the notion he’d found the ideal name for an alcohol-free spirits shop. With his wife’s…
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I was delighted to discover — if only so I could say it out loud — the unique beverage Mamajuana (sometimes Mama Juana) on a recent visit to the Dominican Republic. Dating back to the 1950s, Mamajuana is the unofficial national beverage of the Dominican, an odd combination of rum, honey, and red wine that…
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With eight breweries, two of which have expanded into second locations in recent years, it’s not surprising Flagstaff’s been described as the Craft Beer Capital of Arizona. Better-known as a stopping point on Route 66, the Mother Road, the city has a population of about 70,000, and almost half of those are students. No wonder…
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Along Napa’s Silverado Trail you’ll find a pair of wineries which are pushing their offerings, especially cabernet sauvignon, toward the higher end of the category. We spent a day visiting both Chimney Rock and Black Stallion, both of which are worthwhile to visit. Chimney Rock was founded in 1980 and its architecture is unique for…
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If you’re apprehensive of grappa, you probably tasted it before and found it to be strong, harsh, and unforgiving. But times have changed, and it is time to give grappa a proper try because, as I recently found, the craft distillate made, mixed, and aged today is not your pappa’s grappa. Grappa’s history explains its…
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Chalk Hill is a Sonoma County winery widely known for its white wine production, particularly chardonnay. Founded in 1972 by Fred Furth, a litigation attorney best known for his involvement with the plaintiffs in the Exxon Valdez oil spill, the winery was sold to the Foley family in 2010, which now operates it. During a…
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Virginia Distillery Co. opened its doors in 2015 in Nelson County, Virginia, just south of the college town of Charlottesville. The distillery was the dream of its late founder, the Irish businessman and whisky enthusiast Dr. George G. Moore. There wasn’t any family lore inspiring its founding and Dr. Moore didn’t intend to make traditional…
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Thanks to the awesome hospitality of the Monterey County Vintners and Growers Association, I recently had the pleasure of visiting Holman Ranch to taste with father and son winemakers Greg and Chris Vita. They produce two labels of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and sparkling for them: Holman Ranch and Jarman, both sourced from estate vineyards in…
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If you want to get ahead in the distilling business, it seems a good idea is to start as a tour guide. At the Bruichladdich distillery on Islay, the Scottish island renowned for peaty malts like Laphroaig, Lagavulin, and Ardbeg, two of the top men both began their careers as tour guides. Adam Hannett, the…
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