Craft beer in St. Charles

Kathy's Gift - The Battle Against Sarcoma

In the spirit of #GivingTuesday, we’d like to take a moment to talk about the inspiration behind 𝗞𝗮𝘁𝗵𝘆’𝘀 𝗚𝗶𝗳𝘁, a beer we released last week that has a deeper connection to our St. Charles brewery family than most.

Many of you know our bartender and graphic designer, Reilly, either from behind the bar here in our taproom, or through his other gig selling beer for Windy City. Recently, his fiancé, Cassie, lost her mother to sarcoma, a particularly aggressive form of cancer that develops in bone and soft tissues of the body.

Kathy’s Gift is named in honor of 𝗞𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗔𝗻𝗻𝗲 𝗗𝘂𝗹𝘀𝗸𝗶, who fiercely fought sarcoma for 17 years after her initial diagnosis. Her battle is a testament to her force of will and courage in the face of the unknown. Reilly had been planning his own beer for our #EmployeeBrewed series, a line of beers that we allow each of our taproom employees have a role in designing and brewing.

Upon Kathy’s passing, Reilly immediately dropped his original idea and came to us with Kathy’s Gift, a West Coast hopped double IPA with pink guava. The yellow color in the can label represents sarcoma awareness, and we hope to spread the word about not just this disease, but people like Kathy who continue to bravely fight it.

Please consider donating to the Sarcoma Foundation of America today using the donate button below. We’ll also be donating a portion of the proceeds from sales of Kathy’s Gift 4-packs, which is available to order online (store link: bit.ly/riverlands) and pick-up at our taproom as early as Wednesday at noon.

New Limited Edition Summer Shirt Pre-Order

New summer threads are on their way, and this is the ONLY way to get your hands this new shirt design in the COLOR OF YOUR CHOICE!

These unisex tees and ladies’ v-necks feature our classic three waves logo on the front lapel and our new distressed summer design on the back! Plus….CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE with a color of your choice!

PRE-ORDER by Sunday, June 27, and we’ll have these ready for pick-up by mid-July. You’ll receive an email notification when they’re ready.

Check out all the color options below, then head to our online shop to pre-order!

UNISEX TEES COLOR OPTIONS

LADIES V-NECK COLOR OPTIONS

A Return to Normalcy

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As you may have heard, and as we’re extremely excited about ourselves, Illinois is moving to Phase 5 of our recovery plan on Friday, June 11, which in essence re-opens the state to pre-COVID conditions. Here’s what that means when you visit our St. Charles brewery.

  • Masks are no longer required when you are indoors or outdoors. If you are NOT vaccinated, it is HIGHLY recommended that you continue to wear a mask and socially distance when around others.

  • Our taproom seating will be rearranged and returned to pre-COVID capacity, including standing room during the busiest of times.

  • All drinks will continue to be ordered at the bar. We do not offer table service. We appreciate when guests return glassware to the bar as we have a small, nimble staff.

  • At this time, we’re going to leave shuffleboard and board games out of the taproom to keep more table space available. You’re more than welcome to bring tabletop games of your own.

  • We will continue to take both CASH and CREDIT.

  • We cannot allow pets inside beyond service animals.

In addition to re-opening fully, we will continue to take the following precautions and follow best practices, including but not limited to:

  • Continuous cleaning and sanitation of all seating areas, tables, chairs, restrooms, bar areas, etc.

  • Periodic cleaning and sanitation of high touch point such as our Point of Service system, tablets, door handles, etc.

  • Encouraging all employees to self-monitor for illness and to keep them at home when the are sick.

You may notice some activity out in the beer garden while you’re here. At this time, a new, PERMAMENT patio is under construction, so outdoor seating is closed until further notice. Stay tuned for updates.

In the meantime, swing by for some of the most interesting and greatest variety of craft beer in St. Charles!

Acid Rainbow Tie-Dye Shirt Making Class

Love Acid Rainbow? Love tie-dye? We have an event lined up just for you! And just in time for Mother’s Day!

Join us at our St. Charles brewery on Weds May 26th at 6:30pm for an Acid Rainbow tie-dye shirt making class...and keep the shirt!

Each ticket includes your choice of shirt type (unisex tee, or men’s/women’s tanktop), a tie-dye class by our own Amber, and your first beer is even included! The best part: you keep the shirt.

Limited tickets available online (bit.ly/riverlands).

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The Women's EmPORTERment Project

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At our brewery in St. Charles, we’ve been lucky enough to find ourselves surrounded by a strong group of women, some who are employed here, and others who support us at home and behind the scenes.

This year for International Women’s Day, many of these ladies gathered to brew a beer of their own design to raise awareness for the local St. Charles/Geneva/Batavia branch of Zonta International. With their objectives of “improving the legal, political, economic, educational, health and professional status of women at the global and local level through service and advocacy,” Zonta’s ideals align heavily with ours at Riverlands.

The result of our women’s brew day releases this Friday, April 23. Women’s EmPORTERment is an American porter brewed with toffee, almond, and cacao nibs. At 7.2% ABV, this rich, chocolaty porter is our homage to the Heath brand candy bar, and we can’t wait to share it with you.

Once canning is complete on 4/23, 4-packs will be available to-go at our St. Charles brewery or available for pre-order and curbside pickup at: bit.ly/riverlands. We’ll also have the beer on draft.

A portion of the profits from each 4-pack and draft sold will go to our local Zonta West club. We hope this humble donation will help empower local women in their daily and professional lives in some way.

Want to get involved? Learn more about donating time, talent, or funds at: https://www.zontawest-sgb.org/donate.

Sunday Sessions Return to our St. Charles Brewery

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Last summer, in the midst of the pandemic and an indoor seating shutdown, Riverlands wanted to find a way to continue to support local food vendors and musicians while allowing our patrons to enjoy the summer sun in our St. Charles beer garden. So we created Sunday Sessions, our weekly food and music showcase that paired local food and music for afternoons of full of fun.

This spring and summer, Sunday Sessions return! Each Sunday, swing by our St. Charles brewery for the local trifecta of St. Charles craft beer, local food, and live music.

Schedule below (subject to change):

4/18: Grant Milliren / Mac Dynamite Mac & Cheese Pop-Up

4/25: Nicole Devine / Stadium Street Eats

5/2: Jim DiDominico / Cook.Napoles Food Truck (burgers & tacos!)

5/9: MOTHER'S DAY with Make It A Double / ACE - A Culinary Experience

5/16: Mark Messer / Mac Dynamite Mac & Cheese Pop-Up

5/23: PS Acoustic / Cook.Napoles Food Truck (burgers & tacos!)

5/30: Joey Wilbur / Flyin' Hawaiian Food Truck

6/6: Jim DiDominico / Pierogi Rig

6/13: PS Acoustic / Flyin' Hawaiin Food Truck

6/20: FATHER'S DAY BBQ BRUNCH with Fire & Smoke / Daniel Izaaks

6/27: Nicole Devine / All Star Grilled Cheese

Two Years in the Making: Kayak Pils

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You might notice a bit of a change in our house pilsner this time around. What was once Yellow Kayak is now simply Kayak Pils. Why the change you ask? There are a couple reasons.

First, we haven't brewed a single batch of Yellow Kayak the exact same way twice.

It started off far more hoppy, and we’ve progressively sought more balance as time went on. After a while, the changes we continued to want to make to this beer were bringing it outside of the basic profile we'd established for it. It just didn't make sense to call it the same name.

Secondly, we knew we could do better.

We've put a heavy emphasis on lager brewing so far in 2021. We love these beers, and we've tirelessly researched (and taste tasted) them. German-style Pils specifically has been the beer we've most sought to perfect. We've adjusted our recipes, equipment, water profile, and most importantly our entire fermentation process for lagers to bring you the best versions of these beers we can brew.

That brings us to Kayak Pils.

I can't begin to describe the amount of love and attention that has been poured into the most subtle nuances of this beer. Did we reinvent the wheel here? Far from it. This tastes like a classic German Pils brewed with Hallertau hops, premium German Pilsner malts, and a quality German lager yeast. My German grandmother would be proud. We love this beer, and I sincerely hope you all do too.

Order a Kayak slow-pour style for the full Pils experience. Keep an eye out for more tasty lagers coming your way soon in addition to our usual output of tasty hops, stouts and sours.

- Eric, Head Brewer