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Welcome

ekaloka - of one realm

ekaloka is a small-batch, experimental fermentery in Rogers Park, Chicago, Illinois. All of our brews are made sustainably using vegan ingredients, including seasonal and local produce wherever we can find it or grow it. We never force carbonate, instead letting the microbes produce a natural effervescence that is natural, lighter, and preserves the subtler flavors that bring richness to fermented beverages.

Every bottle of our all-natural brew is an ode to and an expression of gratitude for the smallest members of our world community, who have lived and thrived alongside us for thousands of years and given us so much beauty. Our styles and ingredients reflect traditional practices and beloved brews from around the world. So please, let us share a brew with you and together say ’cheers’ to a thousand more years of living ekaloka.

About Us

Your local overeducated, ecofeminist, vegan brewers

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Ben and Shobhana on October 31st, 2022 drinking one of ekaloka’s earliest releases, a buckwheat dubbel made with grad-worker grown “Long Island Cheese” heirloom pumpkins.

One morning, we woke up and decided it was time to ferment things.

Making new things everyday is fun, but it’s even more fun when you get to taste them afterwards. When we became inorganic chemists, we found that our research didn’t offer a lot of opportunities for tasting, and more importantly, for sharing.

Ben had a really big bucket, Shobhana had a big closet for fermentation, and so a brew-tiful collaboration was born. A collaboration of chemistry and ecofeminism; a shared love and respect for all the powerful beings and mysterious forces of this Earth and beyond; and above all, a commitment to make great, vegan brews for ourselves and our fellow terrestrials.

But who are we really?

We’re like anyone else: we have too many advanced degrees, like to make animals of all kinds comfortable in our home, sit around with friends and pass around beers, talking of electrons, rocks, dinosaurs, black holes, fantasy novels, fungi, metal forging, long hikes at night, and what our purpose might be here in this universe.


What’s a femtobrewery?

The world is full of breweries of all sizes, and these days nanobreweries and microbreweries seem to be all the rage. It’s special to have access to something that was made on a scale so small, it’s ephemeral. At ekaloka, we keep our batches femto — smaller than nano- or even pico- breweries could produce — because we want to labor over every drop, finding flavors at the edge of what can be brewed. What can we say? We love the femtoscale.

We want to share this with all of you: to brew with rare and treasured ingredients without animal products, to incorporate the unique biotic signature of the land on which we brew, to honor and uphold the values of the Anishinaabeg stewards of this land in gratitude, and to ensure that our brewery teaches and uplifts all of us along every step of the process.

Contact

Shobhana (head brewer, scientist)

 shpanuganti@gmail.com

Ben (co-brewer, research)

 oxleybenjamin@gmail.com

Let us get in touch!

ekaloka is a sanctuary brewery; we welcome refugees, stateless people, undocumented people, and all people regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, gender, class, caste, or ability. No matter who you are, we want you to drink with us.