What Are Craft Beverage Trails and Why They’re Worth Checking Out

by Alyssa L. Ochs

Here at IOWA Trails & Tales travel guide, a significant part of our mission is to connect tourists to craft beverage trails that highlight a region’s unique approach to making wine, beer and spirits. Craft beverage trails have been around for many years, but they haven’t gotten a lot of attention or been actively promoted in many parts of the country. This has led to misunderstandings and misconceptions about what these trails really are and how they enhance the travel experience. And no, a winery, brewery or distillery trail is not just walking on a random hiking path in the woods with a beverage in hand!

To clear things up, here’s what craft beverage trails really are, why they’re worth checking out and how they can help you get more out of travel.

Background on Craft Beverage Trails

Craft beverage trails are somewhat similar to a bar crawl in that both concepts involve visiting multiple businesses selling alcohol to try what each has to offer. Bar crawls usually invite participants to walk, bike or ride a bus from one place to the next, all of which are located relatively close together.

In contrast, a craft beverage trail has stops that are often farther apart and involve driving to various breweries, wineries or distilleries in a region. Trails are more geared towards tourism rather than a wild party scene for St. Patrick’s Day, Halloween or other festive holidays that lend themselves well to partaking in a few drinks.

Why Try a Craft Beverage Trail?

If you love to travel and enjoy locally produced alcoholic beverages, a craft beverage trail perfectly combines these interests. Beverage producers are in tune with the overall vibe of a region and can offer tourists an excellent way to get to know the local scene in an authentic way.

Think of craft beer, wine, and spirits trails as niche tours or drinkable “bucket lists” that promote small businesses and encourage non-standard, outsidethe-box travel. Every beverage-producing region has something distinctive to offer, just as all individual travelers do when they cater their daily itineraries around homegrown beer, wine, cider, seltzers or spirits.

Goals and Benefits of Trails

One of the main goals of setting up a craft beverage trail is to draw business to craft beverage establishments and introduce out-of-towners to places

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