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Football is back! After a long (and eventful) offseason, football has finally returned and we can spend our Sundays glued in front of the TV with friends and family with snacks and drinks. But, what’s your team for this upcoming season?
Your team, you ask? Yes! You need a team of drinks to get you from kickoff to the postseason, and we’re here to help you create a team of your own.
May is Celiac Disease Awareness Month – bringing awareness to Celiac Disease, and the two million people in the United States that live with this condition. This means their body cannot process gluten products and it causes abdominal pain, diarrhea, bloating, headaches, and more. There’s a good amount of people who live with Celiac Disease, and they don’t even realize it.
Because of this, people with Celiac Disease have to be wary of what they eat and drink. Normally beers are crafted with gluten, so it’s immediately a no-go for people with Celiac Disease, but there’s options for everyone to enjoy. So, don’t feel bummed out if you’re at a get-together and reach for these gluten free options!
Hard Seltzers – Hard seltzers are simply made. Seltzer water, alcohol, and natural fruits and flavors. They are a delicious go-to for someone living with Celiac Disease. In addition, they’re extremely versatile and can be enjoyed at parties, black tie events, tailgates, and on the back porch. We recommend trying out a Nutrl Seltzer. They’re made with just seltzer, water, and juice. That’s all. You can enjoy one without worrying about any nasties hiding inside.
Hard Ciders – Another option falls with the hard cider. These beverages are crafted from apple juice, so once again, there’s no gluten involved at all. Although ciders are seen as a cold weather treat, this author enjoys a good hard cider year round. We recommend Eris’ Pedestrian Cider, and Blake’s American Apple. They’re both good forward drinking ciders and good starting points to explore the wide world of hard ciders.
Gluten Removed/Reduced Beers – So what if you want an actual beer? No worries. There’s advancements in technology that removes gluten from the beer during the brewing process so you can enjoy a beer with your friends at any time. We recommend opening up a can of Stone Delicious IPA, or Omission Ultimate Golden Ale. Both are easily drinkable and perfect everyday beers for someone with a gluten intolerance.
So next time you’re at a party or a bar, just know you’re not relegated to a soda or water, and you can seek out these options to enjoy a drink or two with your friends without the risk of an adverse gluten reaction.
Happy Cinco everyone!
Cinco De Mayo celebrates Mexico’s victory over the French at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. People celebrate with festivals, parties, dancing, and more! There’s a good chance you’re going to a Cinco De Mayo party this year with friends. What should you bring besides a good vibe? Well, these beverages below will guarantee to be a hit with the crowd, and make it your best Cinco De Mayo party yet.
In honor of Earth Month , we at Lakeshore Beverage want to celebrate the beverages that do more than just satiate our palates and do some good for the environment around us! One such beer helping out the cause all year long is a collaboration between Oregon based brewery Deschutes and Patagonia named Kernza Lager. What makes this super beer so special for the earth? Well, it’s due to its namesake grain, Kernza.
Kernza is a soil-saving, carbon-capturing, perennial grain. it helps prevent soil from being eroded and helps preserve biodiversity and waterways – making it a favorable grain to use when helping the environment.Kernza Lager also uses organic ingredients and uses innovative brewing technologies to create a one-of-a-kind beer that truly has the environment in mind.
Deschutes x Patagonia Kernza Lager comes in both alcoholic and non-alcoholic varieties so you can enjoy this revolutionary beer any way you want at any time. Click below to find Kernza Lager in your area. And remember that beer isn’t just environmentally conscious, it is a great beer to celebrate and kick back with yourself or with friends, Celebrate Earth Month this year with a truly eco-conscious Kernza Lager.
Click here to read more on Deschutes’ Kernza. Happy Earth Month!
We did it, we made it through yet another Chicago winter. Temperatures are slowly (but surely) rising and the sun doesn’t set at 5pm anymore. Spring is right around the corner – and that means more outdoor activities like hanging out at patios with friends and just enjoying the nice(r) weather.
And of course your friends here at Lakeshore Beverage are here to make sure you spend the spring months with the best beverages in the world. No matter if you drink beer, seltzers, cocktails, or something else. Keep reading to find out who’s on this murderer’s row of hot spring beverages!
For this Women’s History Month, we wanted to collaborate with ERIS Cider House and Brewery and take a look at how they craft their award winning ciders. Founded by Michelle Foik and Katy Pizza, ERIS is named after the goddess of chaos, and they certainly have brought chaos into the hard cider category. For a deeper dive on ERIS’ leading women, and the history of the cider house, click here.
Have you personally ever wondered how a batch of cider is made? It’s similar to beer, but different, actually. It’s quite easy to learn how to brew online – there’s websites, video tutorials, even entire online communities on how to brew beer. But what about hard cider?
Hard cider is a steady staple in the alcoholic beverage world, and it’s a drink that everyone enjoys. Women and men drink hard cider roughly at a 50/50 split, according to CiderCraft Magazine. It’s often seen as beer’s fun loving relative, but they’re not too different in how they’re produced. We went to ERIS Cider House and Brewery in the Old Irving Park Neighborhood one day to see how hard cider was made, and to have a few ciders ourselves.
“There’s a lot of similarities to beer, but also glaring differences.” Says Owen, a 15 year veteran brewer at ERIS. “There’s no brewing process.” This is a very important distinction, as there’s no cooking or any of the previous steps. You would go straight from the juice of the apple into fermentation.
Owen walked us through a regular cider process at ERIS. It starts with them getting their fresh juice. Once they pump it in through their lines, it ends up in their holding tank, where it sits until it’s ready to be transferred inside. This is the fermentation process, and it can take about two weeks for it to perfectly ferment.
“[We] see how much sugar is fermenting out, and how alcoholic it’s getting. Owen says. They do this by taking a sample from the tank, bringing it inside and using a hydrometer and the Brix scale to measure the level of fermentation. After a few days, it’s onto the next step.
The blending process is where they hi add flavors, depending on their recipes, and it involves a lot of experimentation. In the case of Pedestrian, ERIS’ most dry cider, they use little flavoring, as they want the apples to tell the story themselves, but it depends on the cider – and considering they have several year round, seasonal, and other ciders in rotation, the recipes and concoctions are plenty in between.
Afterwards, they move the cider into filter tanks and it goes through a complicated looking-but-actually straightforward filtering device. It goes in through one part, spins around, and comes out into one of their “brite”, or serving tanks, and that’s where it’s ready to be canned, wrapped up, and shipped to your favorite bar or liquor store for you to pick up, crack open, and enjoy!
The entire process from juice to canning takes a few weeks, but the result is award winning hard ciders, and absolute fan favorites that keep cider drinkers coming back for more. This cider drinker really enjoys their Blush cider. It’s a love letter to rose wine, made with cherries and has a sweet finish. But, if I’m outside on a patio or a porch, I’ll opt for their Pedestrian cider, a crisp, dry take on traditional hard ciders. Regardless of which one either me or you choose, ERIS has a cider for you. Crack open a can, and raise it to the goddess of chaos herself. Happy Women’s History month!