spirits travel (4)

iStock_000010738692XSmall.jpg?width=292As I travel around the Caribbean (and to some extent this is true in Latin America, too), I find nearly every island has some kind of homegrown hooch (often rum-based) that purports to be “medicinal” (and sometimes certainly tastes the part), often  including revitalizing, curative, and even aphrodisiac qualities. And if you visit the Dominican Republic, you may well come across the Dominican variation on this type of esteemed elixir.

The name mamajuana (Spanish for “Mama Jane”) is thought to der

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Spirits of St. Augustine, Florida

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St. Augustine is a very old city - so old, in fact that it is celebrating its 450th year in existence.  Because of its age and rich history, people often come here looking for spirits, like the one at The St. Francis Inn, the oldest continuously operating inn in North America.

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The Inn, owned by Joe and Margaret Finnegan, is purported to have its own real ghost. Lily, a slave girl that had an illicit affair with a military man and committed suicide when found out.  Lily’s room is on the third floo

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Shoreham, Vermont's WhistlePig Whiskey Baron

RajBhatka.jpg?width=384Rye whiskey, an American original, came to life out of necessity during the American Revolution when rum supplies dried up. Scottish and Irish settlers in western Pennsylvania and Maryland came to the rescue using their longstanding expertise in distilling rye grain while a post-presidential George Washington popularized the endeavor distilling rye at Mount Vernon.

Today's American rye whiskey must by law be distilled from at least 51 percent rye grain. Other grains like barley and corn are oft

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Next Trip - Bed, Breakfast and Bartenders!

I'm convinced that I have the best job in the world. No, I didn't say the highest paid--that would bring huge guffaws from travel writers around the world because the money involved is more like a ten-year-old's allowance. But the benefits..!!

 

February 28th is the Bartender's Bash, THE event that decides the bartender and drink that he/she has concocted out of Cold River Vodka or Gin.Cold River Vodka and Gin are entirely Maine-made products. Thirty bartenders are contending for the title of the

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