A Mile of Wine Tasting

So yesterday, we walked down to the craft show down on Whitehead St. Before we got there, we passed this friendly cat who was sitting on top of a sign that said not to feed him. Because he ate chicken poop (??!!).


We also passed this quirky art in someone's yard. I love stuff like that.




Yes! This is the kind of street fair Michael & I miss! We've been disappointed with the last couple of smaller ones here, but this was more like what we remembered in Arizona. Of course, many of the artists that we gravitated to at this one turned out to be from Arizona, Colorado, Texas, and New Mexico - which is exactly the same artists that came to the Arizona art festivals - so apparently our tastes haven't changed.

Next up was the Duval Uncorked, where about 39 businesses along the mile-long Duval St. offered up beverages, snacks, and maybe a product or two, depending on the type of business. We heard 700 to 800 tickets were sold to this event, so expected longer lines at each place, but I think we were starting at the opposite end of Duval than most of the others. The event was supposed to take place from 3:30 to 7:30pm. We started around 4:30. It took us a bit to find the sign-in table because it wasn't quite where it was supposed to be, but before we knew it, we had these cute little wine glasses hanging from our necks, our trusty list of all the participants, and a bright pink bracelet letting everyone know we were trick-or-treating for booze and gourmet food.


First up, was supposed to be Caroline's Cafe. This place is always busy. Always. They were serving two meat/seafood appetizers, so we didn't have a chance to sample what makes the place so popular.

Instead, we crossed over to  the Hard Rock Cafe. We try to avoid touristy, chain-type places like this, so had never been there - it was huge! The view from upstairs was rather nice (where I took the above Caroline's photo) and we enjoyed an Argentine wine and some chocolate mousse.



Our favorite wine and beer turned out to be at the Key West Cigar Club. We skipped the cigars, but got to sample beer and wine from the southernmost winery in the U.S. This is going to sound gross/weird, but the wine was actually made mostly from avocados instead of grapes, and then was flavored with coconut or guava (in this case). The beer had fruit added to it too, and while I couldn't stand the blonde ale with coconut, the dark one with guava was one of the most refreshing beers I've ever had. It wasn't fruity or sweet at all. It was just a crisp flavor with no aftertaste. Michael liked it too.



Then one of the food/wine festival helpers told us that the next stop was across from the Walgreen's. We didn't check our guide to confirm this and were surprised when we walked two blocks before getting to the next tasting. We ended up at Leather Master of Key West. That turned out to be the most fun place we stopped. We went inside, tried not to gorge on the cheese and veggies provided, and sipped wine while we walked through a store full of "toys" created with much imagination.

When we came out, we checked our guide this time (they called it a map, but it more a list of addresses, so made it a little tough to get your bearings; especially when some of the businesses weren't actually on Duval St.). Hey! We had missed 4 places during that 2-block walk. So we backtracked. We were pleased to see that Island Style was one of the places participating. We've been in there a couple of times, they have some nice Caribbean stuff, but we had wanted to meet the owners, who live part-time in Nevis. We ended up having a great conversation with them about St. Kitts/Nevis politics and enjoyed the steel-pan music.

Michael was appalled when he discovered we had almost missed Kilwins. Fudge! We had a nice wine here and pineapple dipped in dark chocolate. Michael couldn't deny himself a sample of fudge either. He really wanted this candied apple, but at $8 was going to have to just admire it from a distance.

DeRubeis Fine Art of Metal had some fun stuff made of aluminum. The art seemed to have movement to it and was definitely our thang. There was both wine and food at this one, but nothing vegetarian of course, so we mentioned to one of the sale's guys that we'd be on the hunt for some French fries or something at the end of this thing. He told us Jack Flats next door had great tater tots with cheese sauce, so we filed that information away.

Wet Paint Gallery was all local art, and the artist who designed the festival's poster was on hand to sign one for you if you wanted to buy one.

Ok, we were back on track. Sort of. It got a little confusing when the addresses on the "map" got scrambled a bit, but by now we had figured things out and headed into Cowboy Bills (I couldn't link you to their blog because there were all kinds of naked pictures on it). This one was supposed to be serving beer, but turned out to have sangria (and Mexican food, which we assumed had meat in it). Cowboy Bills is known for it's two-steppin' and bull riding - Yeehaw!

Next up? Wyland Galleries (Wyland's the guy who does those huge marine-life murals all over the country). This place was really crowded and very lively.

One of the festival volunteers said the clam chowder at DJ's Clam Shack was to-die-for. We'll have to take her word for it, but went in anyway and were surprised at how big this little shack's property turned out to be (go around back).

Mangoes had the longest line we had encountered (we'd been here before decked out in tutus during Fantasy Fest). I tried a sparkling wine there and it was pretty good. This is where we were told by an event sponsor who happened to be in line that we better get moving because places could be closing up shop early. Well that kind of stunk - we were enjoying talking to the people in the stores and weren't guzzling our wine, but actually trying to taste them, but okay.

We did dally a bit in the next place - Bath Junkie. It smelled great - like peppermint or something. I grabbed a bottle of clear stuff, sniffed it, and said "It doesn't smell like anything." Immediately, a sales person told me that we're supposed to mix our own smells. That bottle was just plain old water. Oh. Well, I'm glad I didn't smell that and say "Ooooh, I love that smell." I'm a sandalwood kind of gal, but $22 for some lotion is not in my budget.

The people inside the Green World Gallery were really nice and had that same metal work we had liked at DeRubeis, only smaller (meaning more affordable).

The folks at Key West Where the Weird Go Pro didn't seem to know what to do with themselves. They put logos on things, so it was kind of hard to "shop." Graffiti (no online presence) had some great men's swim trunks by a brand (RVCA) I'd never heard of before. Instead of the baggy, neon colored or over-the-top designs, it had stuff that didn't look like bathing suits. They were also $60. Ouch.

We realized we weren't moving fast enough. We skipped 801 Bourbon Bar because they were doing jello shots (not vegetarian). We were looking forward to Vino's on Duval because they're an actual wine bar. But disappointingly, at 6:30, there was a sign out front that they were finished with the tastings. Bah humbug!

Croissants de France was also a lot bigger than we thought, with a big patio out back, but no vegetarian food left. We didn't see Southernmost Realty with their Key West Cakes so kept on going. Le Petite Paris had a nice, boisterous crowd in front, and I enjoyed the only rose offered so far. Nine One Five was the next actual wine bar on the list and they weren't serving either. The table was still up outside Blackfin Bistro, so we drank and ran.  Somehow we missed Flamingo Crossing, which would have been ice cream (don't tell Michael).

Incredibly, we were three for three when the next wine bar, Grand Vin wasn't serving anymore either (it was around 7 by now). Seriously?! We were given these tickets. Had we paid $85 (each!) to do this, I might have been a little miffed.


Mr. Disco Bike Man came by just in time to lighten the mood, and we danced to Brick House as he peddled by.



Picking up the pace some more, we somehow also missed the Key West Key Lime Pie store, but were happy when the Rum Bar at the Speakeasy Inn was still serving up yummy rum drinks (you'll recall we stayed here for a week when we first arrived).

Lush Bar, inside The Green Pineapple, was also still pouring (no more chocolate though - boo). We sampled a pleasant orange liqueur (not eye watering like Grand Marnier), but we didn't have time to look around; we're almost at the end!

A bunch of galleries were up next - all shuttered but one. When we ran breathlessly up the steps to Cork & Stogie we were greeted by very friendly people who were surprised there were still some of us out there. We did have a few others behind us, but I think they had given up around Grand Vin.

By now it was 7:30. The end. We took off across the street to Pearl's Patio, determined to see this through and were entertained by one more song from their band, and a glass of wine. There was some food there, but nothing for veggies.

Knowing this was probably a lost cause, we finished up at Southernmost Beach Cafe - all the way on the other end of Duval (and where the others had started). It was obvious they were loooong gone (it was now 7:44).

Oh well, we had done it. We had sipped and munched from one end to the other. Now if only we didn't have to walk all the way back. Famished, we took up the earlier suggestion of tater tots at Jack Flats and were not disappointed. They had pretzel bread too. Yummy.

So there. It was an interesting mix of businesses. We went into a lot places we would never have gone into and enjoyed talking to everyone. There are the usual kinks you would expect in something this big, but overall we had fun. I think they should do a loop so we're not running back and forth across the street.

It's cloudy today, so I'm glad we did all this yesterday. We want to see Life of Pi, so will go to the Tropic Cinema (we figured out the matinee is $8.50 so that's a little cheaper than last time).