Ahead of September’s 2014 Ryder Cup in Scotland, the country estate of Cromlix reopens on April 1.
Why Go: A few years after attending his brother’s wedding on the property, the Wimbledon champion Andy Murray purchased the 34-acre Cromlix estate near his hometown last year. A year of renovations prepared the former country hotel to open again with updated interiors and services. On the estate grounds, guests can fish the House Loch (stocked with brown trout) or participate in archery, falconry, billiards, and…

Guests who stay at the St. Regis Deer Valley in Park City, Utah, can embark on a daylong private ski tour led by the two-time Olympian and World Cup champion skier Shannon Bahrke. Offered as a part of the hotel’s Celebrate Snow package ($15,000 per night for two), the outing also includes a set of custom-fitted Bomber skis, autographed by Bahrke, for each guest to take on the slopes, as well as lunch with Bahrke at the hotel’s 650-square-foot Mountain Terrace. 
Available through April 12, the package inc…

The $1,300 Astell&Kern AK120, which launched last July, is a pocket hi-fi masterpiece. The new Astell&Kern AK240 promises to take portable music playback to an even higher level. The new player, which the company expects to begin shipping in March for a price beyond $2,000, will feature 256 gigabytes of onboard memory—compared to 64 gigabytes for the AK120—plus a microSD card slot allowing an additional 128 gigabytes of storage. Like its predecessor, the AK240 will support music files with resolutions …

The highly anticipated Embraer Legacy 450, the $16.5 million light-midsize jet that the Brazilian manufacturer unveiled in 2007, recently completed its inaugural flight. The flight lasted just one hour and thirty-five minutes, but it is the aircraft’s first operation milestone toward certification and entry into service, which are expected for late this year and late next year, respectively. This flight follows the November 2012 first flight of the midsize Legacy 500 ($19.9 million), which Embraer expects to b…

Russia’s connection with vodka goes back a long way, possibly as far as the 12th century. Vodka is one vice that was common among royalty and peasantry alike; and while various czars over the centuries tried to limit or ban the spirit (despite the fact that most of them drank it themselves), all failed miserably. By the 18th century, vodka was not only legal but a big moneymaker for the aristocracy, which controlled the distilleries. The Bolshevik Revolution drove the distillers out along with the rest of the …

The venerable leather-goods company Mark Cross has resurrected some of the best-selling men’s accessories and travel bags from its archives, making slight modifications for today’s well-traveled man. The showpiece is a leather duffel ($2,750 at Barneys) inspired by a vintage duffel from the 1950s. The duffel bag is handcrafted from vegetable-tanned calfskin and features waxed-thread stitching, hand-painted edges, and brass hardware, with rounded handles and a cross-body strap. The new men’s collection includes…

The young Wales-based builder Pi Super Yachts recently unveiled its Dragonship 80 concept, an over-the-top sailing trimaran it plans as its flagship vessel, in association with McPherson Yacht Design. For sails, the Dragonship 80 uses three large airfoils similar to the ones on the boats that competed in the most recent America’s Cup competition. Instead of being controlled by sheets, the yacht’s airfoils are supported by masts that can make complete rotations clockwise and counterclockwise. This allows the sy…

Since its founding in 2007, the Chatsworth, Calif., custom-vehicle manufacturer Icon has claimed numerous Best of the Best awards—most recently a 2013 Specialty Vehicles category win for the Icon Dodge D200 Power Wagon—and it may be poised to do so again with the introduction of the Icon Thriftmaster. The 1947 Chevrolet 3100 is one of the most iconic trucks of the U.S. post-WWII era and was the inspiration for the retro-styled Thriftmaster pickup truck. However, for Jonathan Ward, cofounder and CEO of Icon, th…

For 30 years, the jewelry designer David Yurman has used a simple twisted-metal cable motif as his signature. Instantly recognizable as a David Yurman design, the cable style has appeared in a multitude of jewelry and watch designs for men and women, from chunky sterling-silver men’s necklaces to delicate gold and diamond rings and bracelets. But his most striking cable designs are being unveiled now in celebration of the motif’s 30th anniversary. His internationally known jewelry brand has created a collectio…

After two years of ongoing renovations at Hollywood’s iconic Beverly Hills Hotel, New York–based designer Adam Tihany, who is known for his work on Michelin-starred restaurants such as chef Thomas Keller’s French Laundry and Per Se, has begun the final phases of the hotel’s remodel. All 208 guest rooms are expected to be finished by the end of 2014 and will feature Bang & Olufsen televisions, antique bronze lighting fixtures, custom wall coverings, and walnut and ebonized oak furniture. Upgrades will inclu…