We are excited and thankful about our growth and our efforts to bring more attention about the great history, wonderful people, excellent restaurants and shops and the people who run them — in and around Winchester, Virginia! When we kicked things off in September of 2018, we were a bit nervous about starting up a walking tour of Old Town Winchester as we were breaking out of the summer weather and onward towards winter weather, but it gave us an opportunity to hone our skills without being overwhelmed and really dial-in what worked best for our tour guests. And we stayed open and available for tours straight through! Now that the weather is breaking out of winter and into spring and beyond, our regular weekend tours are filling faster, so if you want to book one of our historic food tours or one of our history & hops beer and cider tours, click here: Book a Food or Beer Tour with Taste Winchester History.
Now we’ve been at this for a little over six months now and we’ve been working our tails off to bring you much that’s new and interesting around Winchester. We often speak about places and things that even the locals walk or drive by everyday without realizing they’re missing out on a “taste of Winchester.” So if you’re new to the Taste Winchester History blog, here’s our current library of Taste Winchester History videos with a short summary of each as the Winchester Food Tour rolls around town in support of our local businesses. We hope you’ll find one or more of these worth a read and a watch… and there are lots more to come, so do follow our website; like us, share us, follow us via social media at Taste Winchester History on Facebook;  And of course, check us out on Instagram as well at Taste Winchester History on Instagram.
The Video List
- Winchester Food Tour at El Centro – Our very first effort, we headed to El Centro on the Old Town Walking Mall to do a Tequila Tasting! It worked out well, even if Anthony was accused of hogging most of the tequila.
- Winchester Food Tour at Fresco Kitchen – TWH visits Fresco Kitchen and interviews chef/owner Barbara Hineline to discuss the custom meal planning and the history of Fresco Kitchen. Very affordable, excellent meals! Try them!
- Winchester Food Tour at Bro Bears Coffee – On one Tasting Tuesday in the fall of 2018, Taste Winchester History rolled into the drive-thru at Bro Bears Coffee, an outstanding coffee stand with a lot more than a cult following, this place is has tons of fans! Or should we say Brollowers? No, maybe I shouldn’t…
- Winchester Food Tour at Hideaway Cafe – TWH hits the award-winning Hideaway Cafe to interview chef/owner Victoria Kidd to discuss the Cafe’s start hidden away around the corner from their current location, a lovely cafe as you enter the Old Town Walking Mall from Cork Street! Great cafe menu and treats galore… not to mention all manner of caffeine delivery anyone could possibly desire.
- Winchester Food Tour at The Briede Family Vineyards – Misty & Anthony head to one of the newest wineries in Winchester, The Briede Family Vineyards, for a tasting and to interview Paul and Loretta Briede on establishing the vineyard, the work that goes into producing fine wines and champagnes, events at the tasting room and more!
- Winchester Food Tour at Dude’s Drive-In Burgers – Our first “Travel Edition” – TWH was on the road, it happened to be Tuesday, so we did a quick short Tasting Tuesday segment at the iconic Dude’s Drive-In Burgers in Christianburg, Virginia.
- Winchester Food Tour at Village Square & V2 – The fabulous raw bar at the Village Square meant we had to do a Tasting Tuesday, ordering the “variety pack” of oysters on the half shell. Scrumptious!
- Winchester Food Tour at Winchester Ciderworks – Taste Winchester History heads to Winchester Ciderworks to taste some homemade craft ciders and interview owner Diane Kearns in their amazing tasting room. And the word ‘amazing’ doesn’t do it justice, the magnificent bar, the woodwork, and the decor is second-to-none, in our opinion, and it’s worth a visit just to see this spectacular venue!
- Taste Winchester History Chili Tasting – Misty & Anthony take their best shot to determine what is the “best” chili in Winchester from five samples taken from local restaurants. While we know everyone’s tastes are different, this is quite fun to view and the results from our perspective should surprise you… even if there is no way you could possibly agree!
- Winchester Food Tour Fresco Kitchen Unboxing – Watch as Anthony narrowly avoids trouble with Misty, coming up with a winning idea for Tasting Tuesday when the original plan fell through at the last minute! We host an unboxing of a set of Fresco Kitchen meals from our very own meal plan, sharing the presentation and tasting this Tuesday.
- Winchester Food Tour On the Rocks – During the annual Winchester On The Rocks event, TWH popped into Sexi Mexi for a taste of their specialty cocktail entries, chatted with owner, Cristina Willis. And of course we ate, too!
- Winchester Food Tour at Winchester Cookie – We were so excited to feature one of Winchester’s young entrepreneurs, Elijah Perry, the Master Cookie Maker at Winchester Cookie, for an interview and of course a cookie tasting! They deliver!
- Winchester Food Tour at Broken Window Brewery – TWH went live at Broken Window Brewing Company for a very funny (as live segments can be in the public space) for a craft brew tasting and to discuss the Top 10 Reasons to take a Beer Tour with Kayla, Misty, and Anthony. Watch the video – we took some liberties with the list in the video which are is not the same as the write-up!
- Winchester Food Tour at Fellowship of the Sip – Taste Winchester History stops in to visit Victor & Dori Gotzmann at this hidden gem on the Old Town Walking Mall, the Organic Tea House & Restaurant, a tried-and-true hit every single time we do a tour! We interview Dori and partake of some fine tea to hear about their humble beginnings and growth into a fine restaurant.
- Winchester Food Tour at El Palenque – Misty visits El Palenque for a lunchtime tasting with guest host Milissa Marshall where they talk about vegetarian and vegan options.
- Winchester Food Tour at The German Table – TWH stops in to interview the owner of one of our tour partners, The German Table. We sat down with Chef/Owner Nathalie Miller to talk German food, German beer, and heart and soul Nathalie puts into her efforts to feed the masses some genuine food “from the old country.”
- Winchester Food Tour Spotlights Black History Month – Misty and Anthony travel around Winchester, Virginia to highlight some of the special locations to feature Winchester’s own Black History, again, the places we drive by everyday and most of us have no idea how rich history surrounds us at nearly every turn.
- Winchester History at Shaffer’s Barbecue & Market – Our most recent tasting and interview as of this posting, we sat down with Matt Shaffer to talk all things barbecue, the history of the family business from catering to chicken trailer to food truck to full service restaurant and marketplace… and to hammer down one of their amazing burgers!
So there you have it! We are very grateful and thankful for the participation of our tour partners and other local restaurants, bars, cideries, shops who allow us to come in, hang out, eat, drink, talk about all there is that Winchester and the surrounding areas have to offer. As always, we look forward to hosting you on a future tour! Our tour partners never skimp and you’ll enjoy more than plenty of wonderful food prepared by our partners chefs, wonderful craft beers and ciders prepared by our partner brewmasters, everything served by their friendly staff. You won’t know what you’re missing until you go on tour with us and get to try out a handful of places each and every weekend. And we do Private Winchester Tours, too! Contact us and find out if we can meet your needs!
We hope that you enjoy what we’re doing. If so, please follow our blog, like and share us on Facebook and Instagram (@tastewinchesterva), and we really do hope to see you on a tour very soon! The weather is turning warmer, book now, we fill up fast!
