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Culture Club | Wine & Dine | The Twilight Zone | Out & About | Take Me out to the Ballgame EASY RIDERS Snappy suggestions for places you can drive in a day Wine & Dine Door Peninsula Winery Carlsville, Wisconsin Distance from Chicago: 250 miles, about 4.5 hours. How to get there: Take the Kennedy to the Edens (I-94), keep on I-94 west to Milwaukee. Get onto I-43 toward Green Bay, follow until exit 185, then take WI-54/WI-57 north to Sturgeon Bay/Algoma. Keep with Sturgeon Bay side and take until SR-57. Ride 57 for a while, then get on SR-42, which the winery is on. Money matters: Tours are $1.50 for adults; children under 12 free. Entrance to winery is free and includes samples! Where to stop: If you’d like to meet the residents of the other city that gets real emotional about their football (that would be Green Bay and their beloved Packers), attend a tailgate party in the parking lot before kick off. If you dare. Tickets available through TicketKing, (920)405-1000 or Event USA, (800)745-7328. Don’t miss: Go cart racing in Sturgeon Bay’s John Myles County Park. On Sundays throughout the summer, the pits open at 8:30am, practice at 10:15am, and engines rev at 11am. Call one of these fellas for more info: Scott Frea (920)743-6464; Larry Frea (920)743-4447; Gary Nault (920)743-1100 or Perry Popour (920)856-6967. The Door Peninsula is the Midwest’s Cape Cod, so it’s only fitting that you can take part in a highfalutin activity like sipping wine. You can stick with the usual here (merlot, cabernet, zinfandel) or you can break out and try the renowned raspberry, strawberry, cherry, apple or peach wines, some blended with zinfandel. There are thirty-seven varieties, and specifically three different types of cherry and apple, both fruits produced in spades around the area. The Door Peninsula Winery is open from 9am-6pm daily, and offers tours every 20-30 minutes daily, 9am-5pm. (920)743-7431. Bagel Fest Mattoon, Illinois Distance from Chicago: 182 miles, 3.5 hours or so. How to get there: Take the Dan Ryan to I-57, ride it south past Champaign, and exit at Route 16. Money matters: Free Where to stop: Need a drink? Stop off in Champaign and check out downtown’s Esquire. Frequented by locals, its floor frequently covered with peanut shells from the free, break-and-eat variety stored on each table, it’s a good spot for an inexpensive brew with actual downstaters—not all the Chicago kids who go to college there. 106 N. Walnut, (217)398-5858. Don’t miss: It’s Mattoon—not much to miss. How can a city spend four days celebrating the bagel? Beats us. But Mattoon will do its 16th annual Bagel Fest (with corporate sponsor Lender’s) this July. Most of it is an excuse to have block parties, carnivals and other outdoor entertainment, but don’t miss Saturday’s main event, the World’s Biggest Bagel Breakfast, where attendees get to eat all the bagels they can stuff down. July 26-30, downtown Mattoon, (217)258-6286. Tabor Hill Winery Buchanan, Michigan Distance from Chicago: 96 miles, about 1 hour and 40 minutes. How to get there: Take the Kennedy to the Edens (I-94), follow it to exit 16 (Bridgeman exit), take a right onto Red Arrow Highway, make a right on Lake Street, and another right onto Hills Road, then follow the signs. Money matters: Absolutely free, including samples. Where to stop: Warren Dunes State Park, which has sand hills that rank at a staggering height of 240 feet. The beach, where you can still spy a faint skyline, stretches some two miles. Call (616)426-4013. Don’t miss: Neighboring wineries like St. Julian in Union Pier (616)469-3150, or Heart of the Vineyard (800)716-9463. So close, yet so far from the city, you have no excuse not to go. Especially knowing that you can wash away a day at the Warren Dunes with some of Tabor Hill Winery’s finest. They offer seventeen varieties, which span from dry to semi-dry to sweet and encompass peculiar hybrids like “Chardonelle,” a tasty mutation of Chardonnay hatched up by these friendly folks, who also offer a deck where you can sip the wares, and a restaurant that serves into the evening hours. Call for hours: (800)283-3363. Miller Brewing Company Milwaukee, Wisconsin Distance from Chicago: About 95 miles, about 1.5 hours. How to get there: Take the Kennedy to the Edens (I-94), follow it toward Milwaukee; exit at US-41 near Milwaukee, then head north toward State Street. Money matters: Free Where to stop: Well, there’s always the Mars Cheese Castle (I-94 and Highway 142), Great America or the ever-delightful Gurnee Mills Outlet Mall (both off I-94 at Route 132). Don’t miss: Harley Davidson power-train plant tours, where the hogs get their oink (414)535-3666. Miller High Life, Miller Genuine Draft, Miller Lite, Milwaukee’s Best, Meister Brau, Old English, the Leinenkugel’s family—see how all these and more are crafted to meet your watery, domestic needs. “Generous” tasting follows. And when you’re talking about beer, the words “free” and “generous” are really all you want to hear. Call (414)931-BEER for additional information. Mon-Sat, 10:30am to 3:30pm; tour lasts an hour to an hour-and-a-half. Kentucky Bourbon Tour Distance from Chicago: 335 miles, around 6 hours. How to get there: Take the Dan Ryan to either the Chicago Skyway (I-90) or the Bishop Ford (I-80/94). Follow to I-65 south and head down to Louisville. At Louisville you can take I-65 to KY-245, take exit 112 to Bardstown and begin at the Heaven Hill Distillery. Or, take I-64 toward Lexington, get off at exit 53 (Frankfort/Lawrenceburg) and begin at Four Roses. The Blue Grass Parkway connects almost all of the distilleries and you can do most of the tour via that route. For more info on planning a route, visit www.kybourbon.com. Money matters: Free. Where to stop: Man o’ War’s grave. The most famous racehorse ever has a large bronze statue of himself right over his grave. King of racing during the Roaring Twenties, Man o’ War spent much of his life as a stud (379 children) and had his entire body embalmed and buried in a huge casket lined with his racing colors. Kentucky Horse Park, 4089 Iron Works Parkway, (859)233-4303. Take I-64 into Lexington, then take I-75 north four miles to exit 120. Don’t miss: Dip your own bottle at the Makers Mark Distillery. At the end of the tour, if you buy a bottle of the joy that is Makers Mark, they’ll let you hand-dip it in the brand’s signature red sealing wax. Note: No bourbon sales on Sunday! It’s not bourbon if it’s not made in Kentucky. And thankfully for lovers of Kentucky sour mash, a nice grouping of local distilleries offer free tours (most with free bourbon at the end!) of their facilities. Visit everything from Bardstown’s Heaven Hill, where you can see the work of seventh generation master distiller Parker Beam, to Makers Mark, which crafts some of the smallest batches around—less than nineteen barrels each. Then on to Jim Beam, where you can check out the carefully preserved home of T. Jeremiah Beam as well as one of the oldest stills in the U.S., to Four Roses, which has ten different bourbon recipes. Don’t forget Labrot & Graham, which is the only distillery left in America to use copper spot stills, or Buffalo Trace and, of course, Wild Turkey. Note: Most of these locations are open daily, some are closed on major holidays. Hours vary wildly and reservations are necessary for groups of ten to fifteen or higher. Call before you go. Some distilleries may not serve or sell bourbon on Sundays. Also watch your bourbon intake, especially if you plan on driving from spot to spot. Distilleries offering tours: Heaven Hill, 1064 Loretto Road, Bardstown, (502)348-3921; tours Mon-Fri 10:30am-2:30pm and by appointment. Closed the last week of June and first week of July. Jim Beam, 149 Happy Hollow Road, Clermont, (502)543-9877; tours Mon-Sat 9am-4:30pm, Sun 1-4pm. Makers Mark, 3350 Burks Springs Road, Loretto, (502)865-2099; tours Mon-Sat 10:30am-3:30pm, Sunday 1:30, 2:30 and 3:30pm. Four Roses, 1224 Bonds Mill Road, Lawrenceburg, (502)839-3436; guided tours by appointment only. Buffalo Trace, 1001 Wilkinson Blvd., Franklin Co., (502)696-5926; tours Mon-Fri 9am-2pm. Labrot & Graham, 7855 McCracken Pike, Versailles, (606)879-1939; tours daily 10 & 11am, 1, 2 & 3pm. Visitors’ center and gift shop open Tue-Sat 9am-5pm. Wild Turkey, U.S. Highway 62 East, Lawrenceburg, (502)839-4544; tours Mon-Fri 9 & 10:30am, 12:30 & 2:30pm Anheuser-Busch Brewery St. Louis, Missouri Distance from Chicago: Approximately 300 miles or about 5 hours. How to get there: Jump on the Stevenson (I-55) toward St. Louis and keep on it until you hit I-64. Follow I-64 into St. Louis and exit at Arsenal Street. Turn left onto Arsenal, then left again onto Busch Place. Money matters: Free Where to stop: For some lovely arcana, pop off at the Evergreen Memorial Cemetery in Bloomington, Ill. to visit the gravesite of turn-of-the-century hall-of-fame pitcher Old Hoss Radbourn. Never heard of him? Well, in nearly every picture ever taken of him—team or otherwise—he was giving the finger. Pretty cool, eh? Don’t miss: The St. Louis Arch—Manifest Destiny in all its glory. The tour takes you throughout the brewery and the stables where the famous Clydesdales call home, ending in the “Hospitality Suite,” where samples of Bud, Bud Light (like you’ve never had those exotic swills before) and whatever other specialties they have at the time are available. Visitors are allowed two 12-ounce beverages of their choice after the sampling is finished. Call (800)DIAL-BUD for more information. Mon-Sat 9am-5pm, Sun 11:30am-5pm; tour lasts forty-five minutes to an hour.
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