5034. Do the Door County Wine Trolley Tour

 My cousins always go to Door County every August and depending on my work schedule, I try to meet them up there for a day. Since they like to do wine and alcohol tastings, I thought it would be fun to do the wine trolley. They have never done it and never have I. I gave them the option of doing the regular wine trolley or the wine, beer, and spirits trolley and the chose the later which I was fine by me.

Like the ghost tour trolley that Stacy and I did earlier in the month, the wine, beer, and spirits trolley tour is offered by Door County Trolley. It was an all day event with us leaving at 10 AM and getting back around 3:00 PM with a stop at a winery, a brewery, and distillery along with lunch. We didn't know which winery, distillery, or brewer we were going to until we got on the trolley.  It cost each of us $85 with taxes and fees. 

Our first stop was Harbor Ridge winery. Since the winery is next to Wisconsin Cheese Masters we actually had a wine and cheese pairing outside. We sampled 4 wines, 3 of which was paired with cheese and the fourth a chocolate wine was paired with homemade toffee. It was delicious. 

After our tasting, we had time to explore the wine and cheese shop. We opted to come back to the cheese shop after the tour so we wouldn't have to carry cheese or wine with us all day. While at the wine shop, we opted to split a flight so we could try more wines. We tried Savvy Blonde,  What the Heck? Malbec!, Cherry Crush, and Moo-scato.  Nothing stood out as ooh buy me but they were all very good. The cherry crush was probably my favorite.

Our second stop was Door County Distillery where we tried four different cocktails made with liquors distilled on site. I was glad we had mini cocktails as I am not a fan of straight liquor. The old fashion was good. The Bloody Mary was spicy. The tropical cocktail definitely had a pineapple flavor. 

Like Harbor Ridge, we had time to explore the Distillery and winery after our tasting. Of course, we tasted more wine. We have been to Door Peninsula Winery many times before so this was just a fun tasting. I tried wines I normally don't go for since I really like fruity wines. I tried the cherry Mimosa (meh), White Chaos (definitely would buy), and Rose Soiree (not bad) among others. Jeanne did do a shot at the distillery. Cindy and I passed.

Our last stop was lunch and the brewery. We had lunch at Sonny's Italian Kitchen and Pizzeria. We had to place our orders before hand and it was ready when we got there. I had garbage pizza and just picked off the toppings I didn't like. Jeanne and Cindy split a salad and the Hot Nashville Sandwich. All were very good. We also had a good view of the harbor and ship docks. 

After lunch we went downstairs to Bottoms Up Brewery. We each got a pint glass of beer. None of the choice appealed to me and I picked a bad one. I barely drank any of it. That might had to do with how full from lunch we were and how much we've drank already. None of us really drank our beer.

It was a fun filled day with another great driver. We are talking about the during the Murder and Mayham tour next summer. If you have time in Door County, definitely check out a trolley tour. They are worth the money. 

#3915 Go to the Door Peninsula Winery

Every year my cousins head up to Door County for a long week. I joined them two years ago, which was my first ever trip to Door County even though it's only about 90 minutes from here. This year, the date of their trip was changed several times and ended up being in August instead of July. Initially I was going to join them on Sunday but then I had the opportunity to go to Renaissance Faire. Those plans fell through and I ended up being able to go to Door County just for the day.

When I texted my cousin this, she asked if there was anything I wanted to see or do. I told I'd like to go to Door Peninsula Winery. They wanted to go to the Distillery. After some quick research, I discovered they are both at the same location so we made plans to meet there this morning at 10 when the distillery opens.

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We first took the $3 tour of the winery. Let me tell you, it was not that exciting for $3. Our tour guide took us to the basement where we saw a short movie about Door Peninsula winery then we saw some fermenting tanks and some stainless steel aging tanks and a quick glance at the distillery tanks. That was about it. After we were done, I found a coupon for a free tour. If it was free, it's a good deal but to pay $3 for the tour is not worth it.

After the tour, we asked the lady at the wine tasting bar if we should sample the distillery first or the wines first. It really didn't matter but the to help our palates, we probably should with the distillery.  Over to the distillery tasting we went. For $5, we got a tasting of 3 distillery products and a free shot glass. You could choose from:
-- Brandy
-- Apple Brandy
-- Cherry Brandy
-- Gin
-- Vodka
-- Luminous Vodka
-- Cherry Vodka
-- Single Malt Whiskey
-- Cherry Bluff Infusion -- Bitters
-- Cherry Moonshine

I went with the cherry Trio, being in Door County and all. I did Cherry Brandy, Cherry Vodka, and Cherry Moonshine. I never had liquor straight up and assumed I was supposed to drink these samples as shots. I slammed my Cherry Vodka back and made a horrible face. Then my cousins told me to I should sip it. NOW you tell me. I sipped the Cherry Brandy and barely finished it. The moonshine was harsh. It was tough to finish. I probably should have slammed that one too. However I can now say I have had moonshine. I think I will stick with mixed drinks.

After we sampled our liquors, we headed over to the wine bar which had gotten a lot more crowded then it was when we got there. We got a spot at the end of the bar and paid our $3 dollar to sample 6 of  the 45+ wines. I like fruity, sweet wines my cousins had more developed wine palates and were more into dry whites and reds. This allowed me to sample my fair share of non-fruity wines as well. Besides having a sip of my cousins' wines, I sampled
--Penacea Peach -- not bad but since it's just peach juice added to the wine, wasn't impressed
-- Razzle Dazzle Raspberry -- quite tasting
-- Sweet Door County Cheery -- I really liked.
-- Peninsula Pink -- Another one of my favorites
-- Sunset Splash -- It was ok.
-- Witches Brew -- I liked this one as well.

By this time all of us were feeling the effects of all the booze and decided to have lunch before buying wine and continuing on our way. We had lunch at Bistro 42 at the winery. Food was very good but a little pricey for lunch for me.

After lunch, we picked up some wine and headed to Egg Harbor for some shopping. Our time at the winery was a good one and a nice way for me to catch up with my cousins.