Save the Date: 2015 Drink Festivals
- Opal Gems
- Across Opal
- Eat & Drink
- Delray Sands Resort
- Lake Placid Lodge
- The Resort at Longboat Key Club
- Opal Sands Resort
- Sandpearl Resort
The typical brewfest or wine event gets a fresh makeover at these events in OPAL destinations.
Photo © The Bloody Mary Festival
February
Clearwater Beach Uncorked [Clearwater Beach, FL]
It’s a beach party not to forget: Two days walking barefoot through Florida sands, sipping on 100 international wines, smoking hand-rolled cigars, and tasting food from the area’s best chefs. At this Clearwater Beach event, visitors more than taste the food; they’re investing in the process with cooking demonstrations so they can re-create the dishes they taste at home.
March
Delray Beach Bacon & Bourbon Fest [Delray Beach, FL]
It’s hard to argue with the pairing of savory pork and sweet, smoky bourbon. For two days, lovers of these two vices take over the Delray Beach Center for the Arts at Old School Square, venturing on a pig-meets-whiskey journey through seminars with local chefs, all with a side dish of live blues.
October
Gastro Getaway [Lake Placid, NY]
It’s as much about exploring the Adirondacks and local foods as it is about the wine at this Lake Placid Lodge event. Guests are sent packing on morning hikes through the wilderness, working up an appetite for an eight-course evening meal prepared by the lodge’s and guest chefs, then settled down with on-site wine tastings and muddling classes in Maggie’s Pub. Add in some Olympic Center curling with hors d’oeuvres and Lexus test drives before one more afternoon of beer tasting and culinary demonstrations.
November
Bacchus on the Beach [Longboat Key, FL]
Guests of The Resort at Longboat Key Club’s Bacchus on the Beach may be drawn to the 500 pounds of Florida stone crab offered at the event, but it’s the wines that keep them there. Always sold out, the event is paired with wine blending classes and face time with the vintners who slaved over the vintages you’re sipping. Don’t be alarmed if you start invoking the God of Wine and Merriment yourself with some dancing on the beach to live music.
