Why You Should Check Out York County Spirits Trail in Pennsylvania
There is so much to do in York County, Pennsylvania, including sipping your way through some of the area’s best craft beer, wine, and spirits on a Mason-Dixon Wine Trail trip.
Begin at the Maple Lawn Winery where the winemakers go out of their way to get their fruit wines to taste as close to real fruit as possible. Some, like their peach, are 100% grown right on the farm. Make sure to do a tasting where you get to sample everything from cherry, blueberry and peach wine to hard ciders with a crisp bubbly finish. Afterward, tour the farm to see where the fruit is grown or check out their Maize Quest Corn Maze and Fun Park. Oh and don’t forget to end your visit in the farm market where all their produce plus jams and jellies and other sweet treats are for sale.
Next up head to Wyndridge Farm, which is also part of the Susquehanna Ale Trail. Here you’ll discover a state-of-the-art brew house with a 30-barrel brewery, where they make beer, cider and craft soda on site. The brewery is growing quickly too and in the last three years has gone from local only to distributing in nine states. One of the best parts about Wyndrige is their ability to experiment with smaller batches of beer that use different flavors and techniques from barrel aging to wild fermentation, which means there is always something new to taste.
Continue the good libations voyage down the Susquehanna Ale Trail in downtown York at Collusion Tap Works, which has been open for just about a year and already brewed more than 200 types of beer! The taphouse is known for featuring two to three new beers each week and has a total of 24 on draft that are all made in-hour. There is also a small gastro pub serving tasty morsels onsite.
Finally wind down your day at the Old Republic Distillery, which is part of the Keystone Craft Spirits Trail and was first limited distillery in PA to open after prohibition. They make two vodkas and three moonshines that all use produce from local farms. Don’t skip the blackberry vodka. We also loved the Black Cherry and Apple Pie moonshine flavors. You can sample all their products in the tasting room with electric cobalt blue lighting that makes it feel a bit like a night club, and hence the perfect ending spot for a day of craft beer and spirit tasting.
