At home or at the bar.With or without alcohol – Check out the top trends in summer drinks | Food

Lancaster County is warm, so it’s a great time to decorate yourself with a wide-brimmed hat, shorts and your favorite sandals. In addition, the pandemic restrictions have been lifted, allowing most restaurants and bars to dine indoors and outdoors.

So now is the time to catch up with all the fun summer drinks you might have missed last summer.

Here are some drink trends to check out in Lancaster County this summer, remembering how to be sociable in the sun.

Selzer

In 2019, as drinks turned into a cultural phenomenon, Hardselzer paved the way for mainstream alcohol trends and for beer coolers across the country.

Gluten-free, low-calorie beverages appeal to people in need of a special diet and are available in many flavors not found in typical beer choices. Restaurants, bars and breweries throughout Lancaster County have added Hardselzer to their drink lineup over the past two years.

Some local breweries, such as Lancaster’s Iron Hill Brewery, which recently launched the Rivet Hard Selzer line, are beginning to make their own Selzer.

Iron Hill now has in-house mango and black cherry selzers, and some retailers also sell variety packs such as black cherries, mangoes, orange cream sicles, and limoncello.

Efrata’s Black Forest Brewery recently debuted Hardselzer. Hardselzer is available in a variety of flavors such as plain or cherry, mango, blueberry, passion fruit and watermelon. You can mix flavors to make a custom drink.

Non-alcoholic cocktails

One of the biggest trends in summer drinks may be completely alcohol-free. Cocktails are served at some restaurants in Lancaster County, but liquor is optional.

The Commonwealth Kitchen and Café in downtown Lancaster offers “moderate cocktails,” or ready-made cocktails without alcohol.

The restaurant is BYOB and the menu includes a combination of liquors, but drinks are designed to be a delicious option for those who like brunch and don’t drink, said Operations Director Michael Sirianni.

Options include a Bloody Mary (called Common Mary) take and an optional rum watermelon mint mojito.

Luca, an award-winning restaurant in downtown Lancaster, offers a consistent menu of non-alcoholic cocktails, including straight-edged Negroni, Juni Party, orange peel and demerara syrup with non-alcoholic aperitif.

Other non-alcoholic beverages include lemon basil spritzer and amaro-made relbolista.

Various ways to absorb

Some local restaurants and bars relied on take-away cocktails after pandemic closures prevented people from going out and drinking. Now that the restaurant is reopening for indoor and outdoor dining, the liquor rules have become stricter again, but some bar owners want an extension.

In the meantime, the way people choose to drink cocktails has evolved, and some of those changes stay here.

The tap handle behind the bar isn’t just for beer anymore. Draft cocktails have become part of the local drinking landscape. For example, Annie Bailey’s pub in downtown Lancaster offers a tap of rotating cocktails, including bead knee drinks, paloma, and some margarita options.

And this summer, refreshing alcoholic beverages go beyond fine cocktails, wine and beer. Bartenders are experimenting with locally made beer and mead as ingredients for cocktails.

Mannheim-based Artifice Ales and Mead has a beer-based chocolate milkshake made from the cunning Irish stout of a brewery. This sweet summer drink is also available at the Medised Medery in downtown Lancaster.