chris nelson dot ca

Cross border tourism in Baja Norte

Tijuana, Ensenada, Rosarito, Puerto Nuevo, Guadalupe Valley. Just a few of the Baja, Mexico destinations which used to be easy and popular day trips from San Diego. In the space of a few years major changes completely changed tourism near the border. The first was increased security at the border by the Department of Homeland Security. The pool of available tourists was dramatically lowered by requiring passports to cross into the USA from Mexico as roughly 1/3rd of Americans hold a passport (though growing). This increased security also lead to an increase in border wait times. Instead of spending an hour or perhaps two at the worst waiting at the border, there began to be an increase in three and four hour waits. The second major impact to cross border tourism was an outburst of drug war related violence. Though mostly targeted towards narcos and those working with them, this bloody war spilled over in several cases and fed fear and general distrust of Tijuana and other border cities.

Though the narco violence subsided in this area years ago, memories take much longer to dissipate. Given time things are starting to turn around. Without the corruption of short term (and usually debauched) cash along Revolución, Tijuana and others have looked inward to reinvent themselves. This change over the last few years has lead to them becoming a bit of a destination for foodies and culture lovers – attracting the like of Bourdain and others to explore the new Baja.

We used to visit the coast of Baja (Rosarito, Puerto Nuevo, and occasionally Guadalupe or even further south like Bahia de los Angeles) on a regular basis, going down for lunch and shopping before returning for the day. With the border waits we had fallen out of the habit some time ago and had yet to pick it back up again – We finally got around to visiting one of our old standards with family on Sunday, lunch in Puerto Nuevo. The toll road was washed out so we spent time on the free road driving down. I was pleasantly surprised to see that much of the route was four lanes wide and in excellent shape. The shops along the road were in mixed shape – some still seeming to be going strong, others didn’t seem to have made it through the drought. We spoke with a few shopkeepers who said business had been slowly picking up and they were hopeful for the future. I think we will be picking our habit back up – Baja offers some excellent opportunities for day trips.

Link to the full gallery of photos
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Panoramas from Fort Louis, Marigot, Saint Martin

The town of Marigot on the French side of St Martin has an old fort named Fort Louis above it. Though not large, and mostly collapsed, the fort has a commanding view of the area and is worth the short hike to the top.

Maho beach – watching planes land at SXM

Princess Juliana International Airport SXM (aka Sint Maarten International Airport) has a runway which approaches over the ocean. The end of the runway is several feet from a short and steep beach, Maho. This combination leads to a lot of plane watching as the lumbering giants pass very close to the beach before touching down. We spent a few hours here at Sunset, where in between caribbean music sets from a local band they play air traffic controller traffic. The above photos and video are from my phone, I’ll update later with ones taken from my SLR.

First day on Saint Martin

We have been here for less than a day but I thought I would write some first impressions to look back and likely see how wrong I was. Like most nations in the area, development has been a it ramshackle – beautiful in some spots and seeming lacking proper sewer lines in others. The weather has been lovely thus far, a nice temperature and humidity.

We were eaten up by mosquitoes at dinner last night, which makes one worry about chickungunya – apparently making the rounds. Time will tell how large a threat it is, for now we will stay vigilant with insect repellent.

Touring the Kentucky Bourbon Trail

I’ve enjoyed touring Scottish distilleries as well as wineries around the world, but had never visited any American distilleries. We thought that this needed to change and found ourselves in Kentucky late September 2013 to visit some parts of the Bourbon Trail. We based ourselves in Louisville and visited five distilleries over the course of a few days – here are my thoughts on each of them.

Buffalo Trace

Buffalo Trace makes a wide variety of bourbon with several different lines represented. Their budget Buffalo Trace is excellent value, typically close to $20/bottle. Things get a bit more expensive from there, with Eagle Rare and Blanton’s being the more premium versions, and then quickly escalate into ridiculous collector prices with their antique collections of Sazerac, Wller, Eagle Rare, Staggg, and Handy Sazerac. However, even those can’t touch the ultra ridiculous frenzy over the ever elusive Pappy Van Winkle.

Located in Frankfort, the small capitol of Kentucky, the Buffalo Trace distillery is somewhat off on its own from some of the other large distilleries. Distilling began on the grounds sometime before 1773, so in addition to being picturesque, the area has a lot of history. Buffalo Trace’s tours are all free, which is pretty amazing when one considers each of their many tours per day finish with generous pours of their white dog, base bourbon lines, and sweets. Our tour guide was a second generation worker and had a genuine love for the company and its history. The only negative thing I could cite them for was a video included on the tour which was a little too long & marketing heavy. Note that the default tour does not go behind the scenes to the mash or other areas – in order to see those areas one has to sign up with those specific tours in advance, which is highly recommended. This was one of my favorite spots to visit, as the grounds were lovely to walk around and the staff extremely friendly.

Woodford Reserve

Though Woodford Reserve releases limited editions they are mostly known for their base bourbon, Woodford Reserve, or the more premium version, Master’s Collection. Woodford is a relatively new brand (1996) on a very old site. Located just south of Versailles, distilling started on site around 1780 and the main stone distillery building was built in 1838. Though a well known brand I was surprised to see just how small these facilities were – the fermenters, bottling and storage is all housed within the older historic stone buildings. Woodfords tour was the most organized we went on – a bus ride down and headsets to hear the guide, however the tour also costs $7. Disappointingly the tour only includes a taste of their main line – Woodford Reserve. Though one can can talk up some of the gift shop folks for a taste of the double oaked if they display enough interest and seem like buyers, it would have been nice to try some of their other items not easily available, like their recent foray into malt whiskys. This site is one of the prettiest that we visited, and is a worth a visit to see the landscape and distillery alone.

Four Roses

Four Roses has been around as a brand since 1888 and the mission style distillery building was completed in 1910. Four Roses has had a bit of a roller coaster ride over the years – very popular the 1930s-1950s, the brand and product diminished in quality up until being revitalized over the last decade or so. I was excited to visit the Four Roses distillery as their single barrel bourbon holds a special place in my heart. Though the tour was free, and the pours (almost too) generous, unfortunately this didn’t keep a special spot in my heart. Their use of multiple yeast strains is interesting, but the the Four Roses facilities are industrial feeling and the tour started with a marketing video. The experience simply wasn’t able to full compete with some of the others we visited.

Willett Distillery

Willett Distillery reminded me of a winery in Napa valley – aesthetically pleasing, artisanal, and focused on visitors a key driver of sales. Home to a gorgeous pot-still and a pretty view, the distillery has plans to open a B&B on site and I’m sure they will do well for themselves. The tour has a small fee associated with it, but I thought it was well done and worth the fee. The tour finishes with a taste of their standard bourbon (which I’m not the biggest fan of, though their bottle is very pretty), in addition to what ever other lines they have available. I tried several different kinds and brought home two bottles of their 4 year old rye which I was very impressed with. Note that their facilities are fairly new here – if you see the Bourbon family tree you will notice that their line is associated with other producers for the older varieties. Time will tell what older spirits from their wonderful new pot-still actually taste like.

Heaven Hill

We had a short visit to the new Bourbon Heritage Center at Heaven Hill Distilleries. I wasn’t particularly impressed, but I can’t say I gave them a full chance either as we did not take the full tour. It seemed a bit overly commercial for my liking, kind of like a booze Disneyland. The prison style metal warehouses surrounding the facility did little to encourage any generous thoughts of craftsmanship, though I’m sure that is completely unfair and unjustified on my part. While I’m not a huge fan of many of their brands, Josh tried a number of their older releases of Elijah Craig and came away impressed enough to buy a bottle. Long story short, don’t just take my word for it.

Final Thoughts on the Bourbon Trail

I didn’t know quite what to expect for our tour of bourbon country, but I came away quite satisfied with the trip. It seems that even though plenty of cash has flowed into the industry it has not significantly corrupted it; the bulk of the people working that we met are genuinely passionate about their craft, and they enjoy sharing that passion with visitors. If you are in the area and have even the slightest interest in spirits, I highly recommend taking at least one tour.