21 Booze-Filled Experiences In The US For Anyone Who Likes A Drink Every Now And Then

Bottoms up!

The coronavirus pandemic is still impacting travel, and destinations around the world have different COVID-19 restrictions in place. It’s important to check and adhere to local government policies as you're planning any future trips.

Some of the experiences on this list might be temporarily closed due to COVID, so consider this list as some ~inspiration for the future~.

1. Santa Fe Margarita Trail

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Santa Fe is home to some of the best margaritas in the world, so you're going to want to try as many as possible while you're there. Enter: The Santa Fe Margarita Trail. There are 45 bars involved, all serving different variations on the iconic tequila cocktail. Get yourself a passport (or use the app), and each bar you visit will give you a stamp — collect five stamps and you get a T-shirt! Obviously, you won't want to do it all in one night, but it's a great way to explore the city if you're there for a few days.

2. Great Alaska Beer Train

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Alaska is a wonderful state to explore by train, staying warm and comfy while taking in the incredible scenery. And Alaska is also home to many of the country's best craft breweries. Put those together, and you get the Great Alaska Beer Train. On the round-trip route between Anchorage and Portage, you'll sample six half-pints of local beer while soaking up the landscape chugging by.

3. Tubing down the San Marcos River

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Imagine it's a hot summer day in Texas. Instead of sweating it out in some bar, hire an inflatable tube, grab a cooler of drinks, and spend the afternoon lazily floating in the San Marcos River. This isn't an organized tour per se, but something a lot of locals and tourists embrace to escape the heat. There are plenty of places to rent tubes, many of which will shuttle you to and from the river as well.

4. Bike Bar Crawl through NOLA

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Obviously, if you want to drink, New Orleans is the place to go. Take your touring up a level with a bar crawl on bicycles. Yes, there are cupholders attached to the handlebars. One of the five stops is, of course, the world-famous Sazerac Bar, where you'll get to try their namesake cocktail. There's also a culinary bike tour if that's more your speed.

5. DogHouse Beer Hotel

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Wake up inside a brewery at the DogHouse Beer Hotel in Columbus. Not only are the rooms stocked with craft beer, there's even a fridge in the bathroom — because there's nothing better than an icy-cold shower beer. Breakfast comes with beer pairings, in-room taps pour a seasonal BrewDog beer, and guests can get malted barley massages at the spa.

6. Weed and Wine Tour

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Take your Californian vineyard tour up a level by pairing locally made wines with locally grown weed. The Wine and Weed tour takes you through the beautiful hills of Sonoma County to a cannabis farm — one of the only places where you can get up close to the plants. You'll chat with the Master Grower and learn about the production and then move onto the fun part: sipping wine and comparing it to the cannabis flowers for similarities in taste and aroma.

7. Desert Door Texas Sotol

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Sotol is a Mexican spirit that is derived from the wild plant desert spoon (sotol), which can be found in northern Mexico and the southwestern US. It has a distinctive flavor that's equally smoky and herbaceous. Desert Door Texas Sotol is the only place in the US to harvest and distill the drink, so you'll have to head to Driftwood to check it out. They've got a bar with an awesome cocktail list showing just how versatile sotol can be.

8. Napa Valley Wine Train

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The famous Napa Valley Wine Train takes passengers on a 36-mile round trip through California's beautiful wine country, out to St. Helena. The train makes frequent stops at wineries along the way, where you can disembark and indulge in some tastings. Your ticket includes a delicious four-course meal and access to wineries that you can't find on a map.

9. Kentucky Bourbon Trail

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You can visit 18 bourbon distilleries in Kentucky on this trail through the state, though it's not just about drinking! At each stop you'll get a look at how the bourbon is made, the history behind it, and the art of a perfect bourbon tasting. Visiting all of them will take you about a week, your journey taking you across the scenic state, with farms and rolling hills as far as the eye can see. Of course, you can just visit a couple to get the experience without committing to the full trail; there are four close enough to Lexington to visit on a day trip.

10. Hotel Max

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Fans of beer have to visit Hotel Max in Seattle. Every afternoon during happy hour, guests get free local craft beer poured from a keg in the lobby. Oh, and there's a bottomless mimosas option at breakfast.

11. Anheuser-Busch Brewery Tour

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The largest brewery in the US is a fun place to tour, whether you're super into beer or not. Budweiser might not be everyone's first choice, but the Anheuser-Busch Brewery in St. Louis is a lot of fun regardless. A (free!) tour takes you through the process of the beer being brewed and bottled, with the chance for some samples of course. As of right now, tours are paused due to COVID-19, but it's one for the future!

12. BrewCycle

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It feels like every city is bragging about their craft beer scene these days, but Portland, Oregon, has to take the title of pioneers. Some genius combined the city's love of beer with its love of cycling, and BrewCycle was born. Instead of walking or driving between breweries, guests hop on a big wheeled table that's powered by cycling pedals. You'll visit three brewpubs over two hours, so you won't be expected to do too much exercise.

13. George Washington’s Distillery

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President George Washington loved whiskey so much that he had his own distillery in his home. Yes, it did burn down, but a reconstruction was built that can be toured near his homestead in Virginia. Whiskey is still being produced here — using Washington's own very potent recipe made from rye, corn, and malted barley — which you can taste for yourself.

14. Denver Microbrew Tour

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Colorado is home to over 400 craft breweries, with many of them centered in Denver for easy access. You could visit them on your own, but why not take a leisurely walking tour that'll get you into some of the city's best spots for beer lovers? As well as many, many samples, you'll also get a great history and culture lesson about the microbreweries of the area and how they operate.

15. Milwaukee River Beer Cruise

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Ok, we've had a lot of beer tours on this list. But this one, in Milwaukee, requires absolutely zero effort on your behalf. Float leisurely down the river, stopping off at three different microbreweries along the banks. At one point, it's believed Milwaukee brewed more beer than any other city in the world. Nowadays, the big producers have moved out, leaving room for the smaller breweries to shine. And shine they do. The tours are currently suspended during COVID but should be back soon.

16. Hop in the Spa Craft Beer Spa

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Have you ever wanted to bathe in beer? Apparently the mix of hops, malt, and yeast improves blood circulation, eases tense muscles, and even revitalizes your skin. We're not sure how much of that is true, but you can't pass up on the gimmick of soaking in a hot tub of beer. Hop in the Spa in Oregon offers a range of beer-based treatments to try out while you enjoy a pint and a pretzel.

17. Jack Daniel's Tour

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If you're a fan of whiskey, the behind-the-scenes tour of the Jack Daniel's distillery will be right up your alley. You get a glimpse into the process of making the drink and then head to a tasting room where you'll be able to try whiskey drawn from individual barrels. It's a pretty special experience, as this was previously only reserved for the brand's distillers and tasters.

18. Ole Smoky Moonshine

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There's a pretty incredible history around moonshine in the US. At the Ole Smoky distillery — which has a couple of locations in Tennessee — you'll get to see their authentic and functional moonshine stills and learn about the whole process and history of making moonshine. Of course, then you'll get to sample their wares and see if you've got a taste for it.

19. Jarvis Estate Underground Wine Tour

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Jarvis Estate was the first US winery built entirely underground, making the most of the high humidity and invariable temperatures of caves. The whole winemaking facility is situated within a 45,000-square-foot cave that has been burrowed into the side of a mountain. It's a pretty impressive sight to behold, and you can take it all in on a tour of the facility. You'll even get to check out the underground waterfall that they installed to keep the steady humidity levels necessary to make their distinct-tasting wine.

20. High West Distillery

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Not only was High West Utah's first legal distillery (since 1870) when it opened in Park City in 2006, but it was also the first in the world with ski-in access. You can slide right in from the slopes, sit at the bar, and sip on a whiskey cocktail to warm up. The brand has now expanded to open a large distillery nearby that you can tour, but there's something special about the original tiny saloon in the mountains.

21. A Boozy Safari

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If you want to visit the Serengeti but only have an afternoon to spare, then head to Sonoma. Safari West will take you on a private tour of their wildlife sanctuary, where you'll see cheetahs, antelopes, giraffes, monkeys, and more. The best part is that you can choose to enhance your experience with locally produced booze as you cruise around checking out wildlife — just pick either red wine, white wine, or craft beer.

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