Yes, this is the year that may drive me to drink. Actually, it’s the year that I will drive so you can drink.

The University of North Carolina Press has enlisted me to tackle a new book, “Distilling the South.” It will have a few recipes, but it’s really a food and travel book, about the exploding craft distillery scene that is washing over the South. Rum, brandy, gin, vodka, whiskey of every description. If it’s alcohol, hundreds of new makers are opening up from Virginia to Louisiana.

Where do you even begin to explore it all? That’s where my new book will come in. I’m setting up liquor trails in five regions – the Virginias, the Carolinas, the central South (Georgia, Alabama and Florida), the Mountain South (Tennessee and Kentucky) and the River South (Mississippi and Louisiana). Each trail will highlight the stories and styles of 8 to 10 distilleries: The whys, hows and wheres of places you need to put on your list. In each chapter, I’ll also list all the distilleries and their visitor information, so you can shape your trip.

On this blog, I’ll tell some of the stories of my adventures as I set up to blaze the trails for you, and share pictures and videos of what I see as I go.

Check back in if you’d like to read and ride along.