52 Best Sights in USA

Leiper's Fork Distillery is a small family-owned distillery that has already made a big mark on the Tennessee distilling landscape. Tours here are unique, as they are typically led by members of the distilling team.

Nora Ganley-Roper and Adam Polonski crisscross the United States tasting whiskies from independent distilleries, choosing only the most interesting to bottle and sell under their Lost Lantern name. Their tiny Vergennes tasting room is the place to go to sample what they find, sometimes before it's released to the world or long after its bottles have sold out. Flights rotate seasonally, but bottles are always for sale.

Fun, funky, and filled indoors and out with picnic tables, this is a place to kick back pretty much any afternoon or evening for a live show and some top-tier drinks. The distillery here makes nine very good spirits—the Whipple Tree Apple Brandy, Queequeg Spiced Rum, and Fifty Stone Single-Malt Whiskey are favorites. And at the bar, they also go into concoctions like the Blueshine Lemonade—a wild Maine blueberry liquor with homemade lemonade and local maple syrup. Hour-long tours are available; book ahead online.

Entertaining educators keep the proceedings light and lively at Napa's first distillery since Prohibition. The distillery makes rum, whiskeys, ginn (ask about the odd spelling), a flagship grape-based vodka, brandies, and bottled cocktails. The speakeasy-like Hollywood Room upstairs hosts many tastings, at which such subjects as "booze yoga" and "proper spirits sipping" are taught.   If you just want to sample the wares, the distillery also operates an Oxbow Public Market tasting bar (minus the whiskey and rum) as well as the the downtown cocktail bar The ArBaretum, both open daily.

Part of the official Tennessee Whiskey Trail, this distillery is known for small-batch spirits with clever names inspired by Nashville, such as Naked Biscuit Sorghum Spirit and Crane City Gin. Tastings, cocktails, and bottle sales are available during operating hours, but tours that include tastings are only offered Thursday through Sunday for those 21 and older.

It wouldn't be a trip to Tennessee without some Tennessee whiskey, and Nelson's is home to Belle Meade Bourbon, a local favorite that has grown to national prominence. While on-site, you can tour the distillery, taste spirits, and shop the distillery's gift shop, which carries bottles, glassware, and other booze-centric gifts. Tours last about an hour and include four tastings; there's also an option for non-drinkers.

In a handsome barnlike building on the outskirts of the small ski town of Eden, this acclaimed small-batch distillery offers tastings as well as (paid) tours, which include tastings. Known for bourbon, vodka, and barrel-conditioned gin, New World also makes a crisp tequila-like agave spirit and an agave liqueur flavored with Utah tart cherries. Tours are typically offered only on weekends, including some Sundays.

Enjoy a lovely afternoon at this organic Upcountry farm and distillery, home to Ocean Vodka, Fy Gin, and Kula Rum. Start your visit with a vibrant lunch of salads and flatbreads (here they're called farmbreads) and cocktails, then move on to one of the guided tastings, which start every 30 minutes. Stick around until 5 pm for live music every night until 7. The bicoastal views are stunning (overlooking central Maui and the West Maui mountains), and the staff is warm and friendly. Don’t miss out on the farm store, which sells both cute souvenirs and bottles to bring home.

You don't have to whisper anymore to find moonshine in Gatlinburg—you can visit the state's first legal moonshine distillery. Take a tour to see the painstaking production process, then let the spirit of recipes 200 years old trickle down your throat as you sample these magical mountain elixirs made with local corn. Just down the street, the "Barrelhouse" tasting room shows off their white oak barrel-aged whiskey.

Located in Ft. Seward in a renovated old bakery with gorgeous views, the Port Chilkoot Distillery offers craft cocktails and samples of its locally made spirits, including vodka, gin, and bourbon. As in other distilleries around the state, patrons are limited to two drinks on the premises.

Zesty limoncello was the first claim to fame of this distillery, whose nearly three dozen artisanal offerings also include other cellos (try the fig if it's being poured), gins, brandies, liqueurs, and bottled cocktails. You can sample six at the tasting room, down an alley due east of Sonoma Plaza. In addition to the alcoholic beverages, the shop sells bar paraphernalia, cocktail-related books, snacks, and coffee aged in bourbon barrels.

The owners of Villicana Winery in west Paso Robles launched the first local distillery in 2011, aiming to repurpose the saignée (free-run juice) that's typically tossed out during the wine-making process. They ferment and distill the high-quality juices into premium spirits, thus reclaiming about 70 acres of premium wine grapes. Taste vodkas (including kumquat and cucumber versions), gin, whiskeys, bourbons, and limoncello in the tiny barrel-room tasting space or outdoors under the oaks.

All the good craft cocktail bars in Maine stock Bimini Gin, the flagship spirit of this distillery located in a 150-year-old textile mill on the Saco River, because of its smooth drinkability. The distilling process achieves this by promoting the juniper berries’ floral and fruity—not its piney—flavors. Sit at the well-designed bar for a gin tasting or cocktail and snacks, or pick up a bottle of house-made spirits to go.

Founded in 2017, Seven Caves does small-batch rum, gin, and whiskey plus canned tiki cocktails. Tastings are available.

Come to sample spirits named for—and inspired by—the city, like Bywater Bourbon, Irish Channel Whiskey, and the popular St. Roch Vodka. Tours include stories on the history of distilling in New Orleans and run for about 45 minutes. Visitors can book a tour and tasting online or take a seat at the cocktail bar and sample the liquors used in the bartender's tasty concoctions. You'll want to take a bottle or two home with you.

The first commercial block ice in Florida was made in this building over 100 years ago. Today, the structure has been transformed into a craft distillery that makes small batches of bourbon, rum, gin, and vodka using locally sourced ingredients. A self-guided tour takes you through the distilling process and provides insight on the operation's partnerships with small area farms. Samples during the tour include cocktails such as the Florida Mule and New World Gin and Tonic. A gift shop sells bottles of spirits, as well as bar gadgets and accessories.

Tall windows, high ceilings, and plenty of copper and wood create a high-toned ambience for sipping pepper vodka (made with Carolina Reaper peppers), rum made with local molasses, and smooth rye whiskey aged in American oak barrels.

Hawaii’s first major tequila-production site is something to be seen—massive agave plants punctuate fields that formerly served as a BMX park. Production is very small, and bottles are only available at limited retail outlets on Maui and the distillery, making the tour and tasting a must-do activity. The staff is tiny and close-knit; it’s easy to spend a whole afternoon just chatting about the operation over tasting glasses of tequila.

One of the stalwarts of Distillery Row, this highly respected outfit (formerly known as House Spirits) opened in 2004 and now occupies this spacious 14,000-square-foot facility. It's earned international acclaim for its Westward American Single Malt Whiskey, made with locally sourced barley. In the cozy tasting room, you can also browse a fine selection of barware, books, and other booze-related gifts. Tours are offered every afternoon, but weekends are busy, so best to reserve a spot in advance. There's an additional tasting room at Portland International Airport and a bottle shop in Nob Hill. If you plan to check out a few of the spots on Distillery Row, be sure to order a Distillery Row Passport (www.distilleryrowpdx.com) or download the app, which gives credit toward tastings and tours and discounts at a number of restaurants, hotels, and shops around the city.

The second floor of the historic Parker House has transformed into a sleek tasting room for Vermont's premier rye whiskey distillers, offering single pours or sample flights of three, from the flagship 10 Year to the grain-to-glass FarmStock to the experimental—and expensive—Boss Hog series.

The husband-and-wife team behind this artisanal distillery produces small-batch vodka, gin, bourbon, and absinthe. A few blocks northwest of Healdsburg Plaza, the two and their crew serve flights and cocktails in a high-ceilinged space whose loungelike decor—dark walls, padded-leather and plush-velvet furniture, and cowskin rugs—perks up the industrial-park setting.