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USATODAY-Larry Olmsted
The scene: Ketchum, Idaho was the last place Ernest Hemingway called home, and while Warfield Distillery & Brewery is new, there’s a good chance “Papa” would have liked it — the place not only serves great food, but makes its own beer and liquor as a rare combination brewery and distillery.
Ketchum is also home to the nation’s very first destination ski resort, Sun Valley, the place that invented the chairlift, but it’s one of the few ski towns that is busier in summer than winter, thanks to world class mountain biking, several golf courses, white water rafting, and a huge slate of festivals and symphony performances, so Warfield has a hungry (and thirsty) audience all year round.
It occupies a prime corner location in the heart of the town’s condensed Main Street, with one long, deep, big room. Despite the distilling and brewing operations, it’s more restaurant than bar, with three rows of tables and booths running front to back, an open kitchen across most of the back wall, a small sit down bar in the right back corner, and a glass encased pot still in the back left. The interior has a very Western feel, with worn wooden floors, dark wood tables, leather booths decorated with equestrian harness belting, and exposed brick walls. Overall, it’s got a cozy but refined “upscale tavern” aesthetic, and the antique safe built into the wall behind the bar is a nice touch.
Reason to visit: Duck drumettes, octopus, pork coppa steak, mussels, beer
