Echo

Vote for best named Great Lakes brew

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We culled through your nominations for the best name of a beer brewed in the Great Lakes watershed and put some of them on this poll. Our selection is arbitrary and of course misses many beers and breweries that were not nominated. And yeah, we get it about those of you who disdain creative names as something that fails to impress true beer aficionados. But sheesh…lighten up. Our bias is toward names that are particularly relevant to the Great Lakes environment or places.

Water

More on Great Lakes beer: Which has the best name?

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Last week we asked you to nominate the best beer made from the waters of the Great Lakes watershed. And what a great job you did. The Echo staff is inspired to turn that list into a shopping list. One disappointment: The nominees didn’t reflect the binational nature of the watershed. They don’t make beer in Canada?

Echo

What is the best beer brewed with Great Lakes water?

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Outside Magazine recently released a list of the top 10 canned beers of 2012. The magazine claims these as the best of 100 brands sampled. Apparently they were sampled at once and by very few judges. How else to explain the impaired judgment resulting in a selection containing only two  beers brewed in Great Lakes states:  Sly Fox Pikeland Pils from Pottstown, Pa., and Sixpoint Resin Ale in Brooklyn, N.Y.

And those two aren’t even in the Great Lakes watershed. Sorry Outside.

Echo

Another college bans bottled water sales

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Chicago’s Loyola University became the latest university in the region to ban campus bottled water sales, the Chicago Sun Times recently reported. The paper said that a student group notes: “We consider the sale of bottled water on campus in conflict with the Jesuit tradition and Loyola’s mission ‘to be in service of humanity through learning, justice and faith.”

Great Lakes Echo recently wrote how campus bottled water bans – and the establishment of water bottle filling stations – appear to be increasing regionally and nationally. At the same time, bottled water manufacturers are pushing back, noting that bans restrict the freedom to choose an alternative to less healthy drinks that continue to be sold on campuses.

Echo

Photo Friday: Super mooning the Great Lakes

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Miss the super moon last Saturday? You know, that’s when the moon appeared 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than other full moons this year. That’s when it’s orbit brought it closest to Earth at about the same time it appeared its fullest. Super moons appear about once a year, according to NASA. This one got a lot of play on YouTube.

Echo

Flash Point: Peter Scott Eide’s favorite Great Lakes shots

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We asked Great Lakes photographers to send us their favorite Great Lakes shots. Peter Scott Eide sent us these photos of Lake Superior. Native Feather

This image was taken using Kodak black-and-white film. It was shot in the early spring when the water levels tend to be at their lowest. This particular spring they were at historically low levels, and sections of shoreline became exposed that normally lay buried beneath the sand and water.