Binny's Blog

Celebrate Flagship February with local beers from Chicago, the suburbs and just over the border.

If you like juicy IPAs, why not try some actual juice? Specifically, hard cider, likely America's first alcoholic beverage.

Celebrate Cider Summit with this recipe for Apple Walnut Bundt Cake with cinnamon-cider whipped cream.

The constant turnover in beer and cider, along with many breweries abandoning the concept of flagships, has made it really tough to keep track of the latest releases in this category. But we're here to help with six beers and two ciders that should be sticking around for a while.

We use the phrase “Flavor Blasted” a lot, usually in jest. But more and more, we are seeing products that are catering to fans of candy and desserts. Basically, almost everything is flavor blasted these days from beer to seltzers to ciders and meads. So many beers, ciders and meads have fruit in them; to the point where a “plain” beverage is the oddity.

Flagship February is a yearly opportunity to revisit some craft beer classics. These are the beers that keep the lights on for their respective breweries. They often reflect the period of craft beer history during which they were conceived. Some of these are relatively new flagship beers, while others have been going strong for decades.