(Video) State rolls out expanded Beer, Wine and Spirits Trail

The Delaware Tourism Office  announced a  big expansion of its popular Beer, Wine and Spirits Trail.

During a news conference at Iron Hill Brewery on the Wilmington Riverfront, Visit Delaware unveiled the new businesses joining the trail.

Among the additions are, for the first time are a cidery  and meadery.  In all, l there are now more than 20 sites along the Delaware Beer, Wine and Spirits Trail.

The trail is based on wine trails that operate throughout the nation. However, Delaware’s small size, a lack of wineries and a booming craft beer and more recently distillery business  led to the hybrid trail

“Every day we work to share with the country and the world that Delaware is a vibrant, viable and exciting place to visit, to live or to do business,” said Gov. Jack Markell. “I’m pleased to celebrate the expansion of our Beer, Wine and Spirits Trail and the entrepreneurs who are building Delaware’s craft beverage industry into a growing economic engine for our state.”

“The trail helps drive visitation to and build awareness of each of its locations,” said Linda Parkowski, Delaware director of tourism. “These business owners take on a lot of risk. They have the courage to turn their dreams into realities, their passions into profits.”

The trail started in 2010 under the name Delaware Wine & Ale Trail with the goal of increasing the number of  out-of-state visitors  and  developing  a growing segment of the state’s economy.

At the time, the trail included 12 locations, all of them wineries and breweries. The increase in sites since then tracks with nationwide trends.

“Helping small businesses to get off the ground or grow is an essential part of the mission at the Delaware Economic Development Office,” said DEDO Director Bernice Whaley. “And we have been able to support this industry through loan assistance for four of the trail locations, all of which are thriving.”

Included in that group of four is Painted Stave Distilling in Smyrna. The distillery used Delaware’s Capital Access Program back in 2012. It now calls the Old Smyrna Theater home and is helping to revitalize the city’s downtown.

“We are so appreciative of the backing we’ve received from the state in all its forms,” said Mike Rasmussen, co-owner of Painted Stave. “And the Beer, Wine and Spirits Trail is a big part of that. Every weekend we see people come into our distillery because of the trail. And we are not alone in knowing the trail is driving customers to our business. That’s why we are so glad to see even more companies will now be benefiting from it.”

In addition to its new sites, the Beer, Wine and Spirits Trail is getting a digital facelift.

The site  www.visitdelaware.com/bwst – includes upgraded features, such as  searching by product type, new location listings, trip planning assistance and automatic display of Instagram photos tagged #DEonTap, the new hashtag for the trail.

Visit Delaware is also set to launch a new smartphone application in the summer. It will use geo-locating and check-in technology to allow people to track their progress along the trail. The app will be available for free download through the App Store and Google Play.

Trail takers will also be able to keep record of their progress through an updated passport available at the website. Once a person has been to any 10 of the locations, Visit Delaware will send them a free prize – a glass beer stein featuring the Beer, Wine and Spirits Trail logo on it. Since 2010 there have been more than 6,000 downloads of the trail passport, which averages out to about three downloads every day.

The Beer, Wine and Spirits Trail is one of the Visit Delaware’s five Trails of Discovery. Each gives tourists a unique and thematic way to see the state. The other four trails are: history, outdoor, geocaching and culinary.

List of New Sites

List of Existing Sites