Hudson Berkshire Beverage Trail

I planned my sister’s bachelorette party in Fall 2014 where we decided that we wanted to do tastings along the Hudson Berkshire Beverage Trail. I have previously planned wine tours in the Finger Lakes region, so generally knew how this worked. After selecting a date and securing the limo, I created our map and timeline, and contacted all of the locations we were interested in stopping at. I didn’t realize that I had to book directly through the Beverage Trail as that was not what I had to do for Finger Lakes destinations. That wasn’t a big deal at all to go through the Beverage Trail directly.
I had an absolutely horrible experience dealing with the Director of the Beverage Trail. She almost destroyed our entire bachelorette party and honestly, if there was some type of comparable activity/​trail in the area, I would’ve long taken my money elsewhere and never dealt with the Hudson Berkshire Beverage Trail. Over a timeline that spanned several months of setting up this event, she kept saying she was sending me information and never did. After her assuring us that everything was set up, as the date got closer, it turns out she never set anything up at all and many of the trail locations were already booked with private events because she waited too long to coordinate. She tried to get us to switch our confirmed date which was not possible because we had people coming in from out of town and a coordinating bridal shower that was already booked. Then once we changed things again, she almost canceled the tour altogether due to an apple festival that she forgot about. In the end, we made arrangements to stop at 3 locations and finally the apple festival that had a wine tent. I don’t know if the director is overworked, doesn’t care, or what the problem is. I honestly don’t care what the problem is. This SHOULD NOT have happened. No excuse in the world can make this experience ok. I would like to add that not once did she apologize for a delay, change in plans, not getting me information, etc. I can assure you that I will never ever waste my time with the Hudson Berkshire Beverage Trail again.
In addition to the issues prior to ever starting our tour, I wanted to document what we experienced on the trail as well. Our first stop was Furnace Brook who seemed surprised we were there, so I’m not sure if the director ever told them we were coming. The director also told me several times that there would be a cheese/​cracker welcome platter at our first stop, and that was not there. We had a great time at Furnace Brook, shout out to Rachel who was pouring our wines… she was wonderful! Our next stops were Chatham Brewing (which I know is no longer a trail member — they must be the smart ones!) and Harvest Spirits — both these stops were wonderful as well.
Our final stop was the apple festival and we had no issues getting in and getting our wine glasses for the wine tent. The wine tent was great and we enjoyed the variety of wineries that were there. At 4:45pm, one of our group members was turned down for a tasting. When we asked why, they said because they close up at 5pm. We were confused because it was 4:45pm. So the group member went to another table and that’s when the director came barreling in with absolutely NO regard for anyone. She immediately told us we could no longer have any wine because that group member appeared drunk. Even if she was drunk, she was being nothing but pleasant, wasn’t obnoxious at all, and WE WERE NOT DRIVING as we had a limo hired! The director started screaming at us telling us that if we didn’t leave immediately, she would be calling security to have us removed. She physically put her hands on a member of our party and SHOVED HER. I was shaking, I was so upset with this woman. She then had the AUDACITY to tell me that she went well out of her way to plan this trail for us. I told her that dealing with her was the absolute worst part of this beverage trail and she never went above and beyond as she claimed. Even if she «went out of her way to plan this» she is the beverage trail director — that is her job!!!
After this horrid experience, I drafted essentially what is in this review and emailed it to every member of the beverage trail. I attempted to reach out via phone as well. No response from the director or anyone capable of doing anything. No apologies whatsoever. I did get an email back from a trail member that we weren’t able to visit because they were booked and they were shocked and saddened by what happened, but since they weren’t involved there really wasn’t anything they could do.
Don’t waste your time with the Hudson Berkshire Beverage Trail. Pop in individually to the trail members if you are able to, you will have a much more pleasant experience than having to deal with that awful «director.»