On the trip through Chile, I sampled everything from local wines to craft beer and some cocktails. While not every drink was a winner on taste alone, each one became part of a bigger experience. Here’s a quick rundown of the beverages that stood out.

If I had to rank them purely on taste, the Carménère from Viña Cousiño Macul would easily come in last—interesting, but it just tasted gross. Next up is the Cajón del Maipo wine—decent, a bit dry (at least to me), but really did not taste too different from any other red wine. Second to top, the beer at Haitonga. To paraphrase the movie Shawshank redemption—the beer was not great, but it was still one of the best I ever had in my life. The great food and company made it surprisingly enjoyable.

So what’s the top drink? Maybe none of them, in a traditional sense. But in terms of what I felt was the most memorable on the trip it has to be the pisco sour. While a bit tart for me, it was easily the most unique drink we had on the trip. Further they were very easily available at the hotel bar, and often free, seeing as the hotel gave us coupons for free pisco. In the end, none of these drinks blew me away on flavor alone, but that wasn’t really the point. Each one was tied to a place, a person, or a moment that made it stick in my mind.

Congrats on the win Garrett