Brown County Sippin' Trip

Country Heritage Winery tasting.

~by Jeff Tryon

For some time now, I have been cogitating and reckoning on how to string together visits to all of Brown County’s various breweries, distilleries, and wineries in one glorious day of touring and tasting.

Of course, the difficulty with this sort of Brown County tasting tour is transportation. How will one advance from point A to point B after one has had a full afternoon of sampling the delights?

The answer has emerged in the form of a “Sippin’ Trip,” a group excursion to many of the various and diverse artisan wine, beer, and hard spirits makers in a single afternoon.

Some genius down at the Visitors Center has arranged for the Nashville General Store shuttle bus to carry eager sippers to the various destinations in style. The coordinated schedule keeps things moving so that sippin’ trippers get a good perspective on the Brown County sippin’ scene all in one relaxed, educational, and enjoyable afternoon.

The Tour begins at the Visitor Center at 211 South Van Buren Street at 11 a.m. on a weekend morning. The center is a highly recommended starting point for any Nashville or Brown County touring excursion, especially for first-time visitors or those unfamiliar with the territory. It features excellent maps, guides, and other materials, as well as a friendly and efficient staff.

Brad, our friendly and helpful tour guide, gave us a brief overview and shepherded the group from stop to stop with the help of Carl the kindly bus driver.

We didn’t need the bus for our first stop, the Country Heritage Winery tasting room just a short stroll across the parking lot. Formerly Chateau Thomas, the space has recently been revitalized by the Fort Wayne vintner.

Twenty or so sippers are seated around a couple of rows of long tables in the main room while an amiable and chatty host, “Bob”, brings a series of “flights” of various wines two at a time. Participants can sip one or both as Bob relates the heritage and pedigree of the various samples.

The secret is, it’s just a sip—maybe an ounce of wine in a small glass—about one swallow. You smell it, slurp a little of it across your palette, and then toss down the rest. It’s more or less one swallow, so you don’t have to worry about being poured off the bus at the end of the day.

It’s a nice, paced, informative and tasty way to get to know a lot more about what Brown County has to offer.

The tasting proceeds from dry whites like a 2016 Pinot Gris and a 2017 Chardonay, through dry reds, semi-dry reds, and semi-sweet and sweet vintages.

The tasting is very informal and not at all fussy (you use the same glass for each sample). Bob is engaging and knowledgeable.

Boarding the shuttle bus, we make our way to the sprawling Hard Truth Hills complex up on the hill at 418 Old State Road 46.

Starting with a welcoming sample of their most popular brew, Busted Knuckle Ale, we proceeded into a sort of museum which features a couple of actual old-time stills and walls lined with the history of Big Woods QuaffON! Brewing Company.

This lesson is made more palatable by trays of small samples of craft beer: Six Foot Blonde, Hoosier Red Ale, and Cherry Wheat Ale.

The helpful hostess displays all the involved grains in their raw and cooked state, and fields questions on various topics. After some time to wander around the gift shop, the tour ends with a tasty toast of cinnamon vodka.

By this point in the tour, the sun is over the yardarm and one is beginning to feel the first cumulative effects of all the various tastings combined.

Just in the nick of time, Brad and Carl save the day with a box full of sack lunches from the Nashville General Store: a generous ham sandwich on some good bread, chips, and a soda. As welcome as a feast in the arduous ongoing tasting campaign.

This repast is enjoyed on the spacious and lovely back porch at Hard Truth Hills, a truly amazing facility. The next stop on the tour takes us to Gnaw Bone and Bear Wallow Distillery, 4484 East Old State Road 46, where Brown County’s first legally-made whiskey was distilled starting in 2014.

Bear Wallow Distillery tour.

Mike, an intense man in horn-rimmed glasses, a kind of professor of alcohol chemistry, gave a short but detailed explanation of how distilled spirits are made, while standing next to an old fashioned Scottish gooseneck copper pot still that produces about 100 gallons of 140-proof, good, clean, sweet, crystal-clear whiskey” in a week-long run.

A visit to the barrel room includes an informative lesson on the place of charred white oak barrels in the process of making Bourbon.

Then, it’s tasting time! The liquor evangelist sets out a row of various spirits and explains each one. Participants are encouraged to stick out their tiny little barrel-shaped glasses for a little taste of anything that sounds interesting. Barrel Strength 120-proof whiskey? Yes! Backwoods Blackberry Moonshine? Sure! Liar’s Bench Straight Rye Whiskey? Why not?

The final stop on the Sippin’ Trip is at the Brown County Winery, 4520 State Road 46 East. The family-run winery has been in operation for more than three decades, turning out about 30,000 gallons a year from grapes, berries, and other fruits.

Their strawberry wine was named “Fruit Wine of the Year” in 2017 at the Indy International Wine Competition and the Vista Red was awarded best in class.

Amidst a forest of stainless steel vats, the tour group is offered a taste of a series of flavorsome wines along with a short explanation of the process by which the wine develops, from fruit to vat to barrel to bottle.

Brown County Winery, a family business for 30 years.

The engaging host, along with the several sips of good red wine, cast a spirit of joy and camaraderie over the diverse group. He retrieved samples from wooden barrels in a little spout, a process that somehow makes the sip more alluring—it’s like you’re getting away with something!

The bus is back at the Visitor Center by 2:30, leaving plenty of time for an afternoon of shopping or walking around Nashville, or a quick nap before an evening out. The cost of the tour is $55. The Sippin’ Trip experience is fun-filled, enlightening, and down-right delicious! For more information about Sippin’ Trips, visit <browncounty.com/tours> or call (812) 988-7303. •