We round off the visit tasting a couple of barrel-aged beers, the 2008 edition of 25 Dodici (25th December, their Christmas beer) and two barrels of Sedici Gradi (Sixteen Degrees, their strong, dark barley wine).

FORBES: Birra del Borgo: Coming for Your Taste Buds

The food is superb, and we savored dishes such as grilled shrimp with barley risotto, and filet of beef in a red-wine reduction.

FORBES: Lapostolle Residence, a Chilean Wine Country Hideaway

They were crippled in their battle against the Scots by the simple fact that wine, their raw material, cost up to 20 times the price of barley.

ECONOMIST: Spirits

The whiskey is a blend of malted barley and corn, matured in bourbon barrels for at least four years, then mellowed for four months in wine barrels that had been used for Concannon Petite Sirah before blending.

FORBES: For St. Patrick's Day, A New Irish Whiskey With An American Twist