For Maura’s birthday this past September, I took her to Niagara on the lake for a short weekend getaway. We stayed in an AirBnB in a different area than the one we’re used to. This one is closer to the beach.

We arrived later than we wanted to and it being a Friday we were looking for our usual beer and pizza meal options. I saw there was a brewery not far from where we were staying so we headed there.

The Brimstone Brewery is looks like a really large facility when you approach because it is attached to another building. They have some great architecture and some really good beers. They were kind enough to recommend a good place that we could get a late night pizza as well.

The next morning we were ready to head to Niagara for the some wine. But first we needed to get some breakfast. I found Tammy’s Brexk n ridge to have good reviews and they had my usual which is eggs and bacon. So we headed there first. The food was good and the service was quick. We left satisfied and ready for our adventures.

Since it was Maura’s day and we weren’t with our usual wine drinking brigade we were able to cherry pick the spots we really liked. Plus we were only there for 1 day and had a ton of choices.

Our first winery is one we had just discovered this past January and all fell in love with. Icellar is pretty new in the area and are making a huge impression that we could tell.

Our next stop was Chateau des charmes. We didn’t do any tasting there because we knew we wanted their gamay and quickly went to their store and bought a couple of bottles before we headed toward the Bench.

You can’t go to the Bench aka Beamsville without going to Fielding. They have an amazing view from their patio behind the bar that can see all the way out to the lake on a clear day. You can walk above their tanks right next to their tasting room. We always have some great samples and leave with a few bottles.

While we had a few that we knew we needed to hit we were also open to wineries that we saw on the way that caught our attention. This time we found Peninsula Ridge. They had some great wines and we’ll be back again.

We also visited a couple more wineries that were new and we liked. Vieni and Mountain side road both offer a good selection of wines.

We also knew that we wanted a beer so we swung by The Exchange brewery that was new a couple of years ago and we hadn’t been back so we decided to check it out. A good spot to get a beer right in the heart of town.

After that we drove to one of our other favorites and a must visit to get a couple of bottles, Creekside. We always leave with at least two bottles and have a great experience talking with the staff and sampling their latest offerings.