Drinking My Way Along the Parkway

 I wanted to go wine tasting in Gatlinburg and I was told I had should go moonshine tasting as well. Because I am a planner, I had figured out which winery and shinery I wanted to visit. I even wrote them on the spreadsheet that I emailed me so I could reference it on vacation. Instead of verifying the name of the winery and shinery, I assumed it was Gatlinburg Winery. I was on a mission on finding a new blackberry wine since we've not been to Basil's (aka Down Time Wines) in a few years and I'm out of blackberry.

Stop #1 Gatlinburg Winery

We hopped on the trolley after dinner and had them drop us off at the end of the Parkway which was a short walk to Gatlinburg Winery. We got there shortly before closing but I was still able to taste. You get three shots of wine for free. I tasted:

Orange Sherbet -- I picked this one since I never had a orange wine before and the hubby suggested it. It tasted just like orange sherbet. It was good but I don't think I'd drink a whole bottle.

Cotton Candy Peach -- I learned that it's not made from actual cotton candy but cotton candy grapes which makes the wine sweeter. I really liked this one and it came home. 

Blackberry -- It was not Basil's blackberry. It was too tart and dry for me. Basil spoiled me and it's going to be hard to replace it.

Stop #2 Smokin' Banjo Winery

After stopping here, I wasn't completely sure that was the right place. As we walked down the Parkway, I spotted Smokin' Banjo Winery and they were offering free tastings so I figured why not. Again it is 3 mini shots of wine for free. They offered sparkling wines, ciders, and even cream wines. I tried

Backroad Jam -- This was a strawberry and blackberry blend. It was definitely not what I was looking for. 

Granny Smith Cider -- It was okay but not a favorite. 

Sweet Cream Revival -- This is was a cotton candy cream wine. Think Baileys in as a wine. It was sweet and creamy. It was something different but really good. I wanted to sleep on buying it. We got about 5 feet out the store when I decided I might as well get it now. Yup this one came back with me too.

Stop #3 Tennessee Homemade Wines

As we continued down the Parkway, I finally found the winery I wanted to visit -- Tennessee Homemade Wines. Like the others, you get 3 shots for free. I went with

Blackberry -- This is Tennessee's best selling wine. It was good enough to get a bottle but Basil has me spoiled and I have a feel nothing will ever compare to Down Time Wines Blackberry Wine.

Mountain Chocolate -- This wasn't bad for chocolate wine. 

White Muscadine -- This was refreshing but I didn't really feel it call my name. 

I wanted Old Apple but it was sold out. I also had a bonus sample of Peanut Butter and Jelly. The PB&J was surprising good even though I don't like PB&J sandwiches. You definitely tasted the peanut butter. Do not wrinkle your nose until you taste it. 

Stop #4 Sugarlands Distilling Company

I was told I could taste moonshine all over the place. I wanted to go to Ole Smoky but for some reason, I couldn't remember the name and wandered in the first one I saw which was Sugarlands. For $5, you could get 12 mini shots of moonshine and it's in a group setting. You get a bartending that pours your group the shots and explains what each one is. After the tasting you get $5 off in the store. So if you buy something your tasting is free essentially. 

They start you off with the 120 proof original moonshine. It burned going down. It was bad but not horrible. 

We tasted various flavors including peppermint stick. They ranged from 50 proof (apple) to 100 proof (peppermint stick). Honest none of them were horrible. That just could be the wine talking too.

We also tasted sipping creams which are all 40 proof. This is more my kind of moonshine. We ended the evening with Eggo Brunch in a Jar.

If I wasn't already laden down with 3 bottles of wine, I would have seriously considered getting some sipping cream but I was on a budget and $30 for sipping cream was out of my budget. One day I'll get some.

There were even more places to try along the Parkway but we were pretty tired and decided to head back to hotel. For the record I had 9 shots of wine and 12 shots of moonshine and was still feeling pretty good but really didn't think I should try any more being such a lightweight even if we were walkign back to the hotel. 

I highly suggest sipping your way along the Parkway the next time you are in Gatlinburg. 

5085. Go to the Evanswood Village Shops in Weyauwega

 The amount of billboards advertising the Evanswood Village Shops is no where near the amount of billboards for Wall Drug but when they say things like Free Wine Tasting and Free Jerky, one does take notice. I've been wanting to stop at Evanswood Village Shops for years. I knew the hubby had no desire and I really never found a reason to stop by myself. When planning the Waupaca County Library trip, I put them on the list. We had to do some back tracking but we squeezed them in.

Evanswood Village Shops are located on Highway 10 just outside of Weyauwega. It is pretty easy in and out from the highway to get to them. They are open 10-6 Wednesday-Sunday. We thought they were only open to 5 so we only thought we had about 15 minutes to explore.

There are about a half of dozen or so stores to peruse. With our limited time, we only hit two of them: Sweet Pickle Gramma's Fudge & Gourmet Foods and The Wild Wine Company. We did not go to Lucky's, Puddy's Dreams (both antique shops), Shirts and Giggles, a Furniture Store, plus one or two others I can't remember.

Sweet Pickle Gramma's Fudge is your place for fudge samples and other tasty treats.  We browsed but did not buy as we felt it was a bit pricy. The truffles weren't too bad but none of them really screamed my name. 

They did have a wide array of sweet treats. One day I'll buy myself a chocolate frog. Maybe when I get to Harry Potter World.

Because of the name, there is going to be a lot of pickle flavor items including cotton candy and fudge. Neither of which came home with us.

Our other stop was the wine store. It was more of a liquor store that had everything under the sun but in no real order. They do like their moonshine. 

I did sample a couple wines (not bad) and Peanut Butter Sipping Cream Moonshine. Heather that got. It was very tasty. 

I did pass on trying the Pickle Vodka though.. only because I was driving. It intrigues me enough that I will try it one day.

I would have liked to checked out the other stores but due to time, this was all we managed. I'm sure I'll find another random road trip that gets me there. They are worth checking out when you have some time if you are in Waupaca or even Appleton. It's only about 20-30 minutes from Appleton.