Wineries, Distilleries, & Microbreweries

The wineries – along with our water, beaches and dunes – are a highlight of the Leelanau Peninsula. 
A cloudless sky and a sweeping vineyard make an unforgettable scene.
Glen Arbor Wines store, blue
Iron Fish Distillery is 30 miles away, and worth every mile. Superb bourbon, rum and other spirits, all aged on site.

WINERIES

The wineries – along with our water, beaches and dunes – are a highlight of the Leelanau Peninsula. Follow the Leelanau Vintners’ Wine Trail Map to twenty-five vintners…many of them award-winning. We have favorites and are pleased to share. Just ask! Open daily late May through October, and Friday/Saturday/Sunday in early May, with many special events to tempt you, including:

  • “Spring Sip & Savor,” the 1st weekend in May, begins the inn’s season with a special Glen Arbor Bed & Breakfast and Cottages package including chauffeured coach, room, meals, and 3rd night complimentary.
  • “Vintners’ Tapas Small Plates Evening” in mid-August with reservations at www.lpwines.com.
  • “Hunt for the Reds of October” with a generous pour on the house Monday through Friday in October at most wineries.
  • “Toast to the Season,” the first two weekends in November, features wine and food pairings at many wineries. End the inn’s season with our package special either weekend, including chauffeured coach, room, meals, and 3rd night complimentary.

MICROBREWERIES

As for microbreweries, it is all about Traverse City. Five microbreweries in walking distance right downtown and five more are a quick drive away. Given the size of the local hops crop now being cultivated, there must be more in the planning, too. “Paddle & Brew” and “TC Cycle” tours are novel means to make the rounds. Draftmagazine named TC one of America’s three newest Emerging Beer Towns. 

DISTILLERIES

Then, something new in the neighborhood. The innovative Iron Fish Distillery is, in their words, “a working farm dedicated to the practice of distilling small-batch craft spirits…Every step of the process –from growing and harvesting to cultivating native yeast, milling, mashing, fermenting, distilling, aging and bottling – is by hand.” Whiskey, rum and vodka spirits available, with more aging in casks. At Thompsonville in nearby Benzie County. We promise it is worth the trip.

The other option – and a very different one – is Northern Latitudes Distillery in Lake Leelanau. We stop here at the end of our Wine Tours to pick up a distinct spirit or two. Whaleback Spiced Rum? Apollo Horseradish Vodka? Jack Pine Gin? Deer Camp Whiskey?