Brewer's Corner: Get Ready for Your Barrel Aged Summer

Some things are worth the wait. With this edition of our Brewer's Corner, I want to talk to you about our barrel program, and what's coming down the pipeline this summer and beyond.

Since we opened in 2019, every time we brewed an imperial stout, we would fill and stash away a couple of bourbon barrels out of each batch. Two barrels here, two barrels there, over the course of that first year. SLOWLY, we began to build our stock up, but our first few releases were small by necessity.

As we got a better handle on our production schedule, we started putting a couple of full batches of stout into barrels to build supply further. During the pandemic shutdown, we took some of that dreary down time to further build up our supply of barrels. Now, we were able to do a few more releases, adding a third, sometimes even a fourth barrel per release, getting more beer into more people's hands. We even got some fun collaborations with some of our favorite brewers into barrels for future releases.

As time went on, we were able to tailor unique stout recipes specifically designed to stand up to the barrel aging process, such as the base for our non-adjunct stout, Tranquil. We were able to source barrels that are unique and from highly respected distilleries, and we've got a few that we're particularly excited about. As of this writing, we have over 80 barrels filled with stout, porter, a gose, and an experimental Acid Rainbow in a red wine barrel that we threw a ton of wild yeast into. 80 barrels will seem like small potatoes to some, a ton to others, but for us, we worked hard to carefully build and manage that supply.

That brings us to our Barrel Aged Summer, which may actually turn into a Barrel Aged Year. The fruits of our labor over the past year and a half are now beginning to pay off and we have a whole bunch of barrels that are ready to be pulled, packaged, and drunk. Over the course of the coming months, we plan to release a new barrel aged beer every month, possibly even more than one. Some barrel aged versions of some of your favorite stouts over the past year will see the light of day, including some pretty exciting collabs, and we'll have a few new ones too. We've been able to let these beers sit in the barrel for the proper amount of time, some being a year, others up to 18 months. Patience is the key when building these programs, and while that's not always easy, it pays off.

Barrel Aged Ice Cream Carton

Our first release of your Barrel Aged Summer: a Neapolitan Stout brewed with cacao nibs, strawberry, and vanilla, aged in hand selected Wild Turkey bourbon barrels.

The first release of our Barrel Aged Summer is Barrel Aged Ice Cream Carton. When we pulled the beer out of the Wild Turkey Bourbon barrels, our first thought was bourbon infused fudge. We're adding cocoa nibs to this beer, but it almost didn't need to. In addition to the nibs, big doses of strawberry and vanilla round out this Neapolitan Stout. We feel like the barrel aging treatment is a big improvement to what was already a delicious stout.

This release will happen IN-PERSON at our brewery in St. Charles, Illinois, at noon, Saturday, May 28. We’ve been longing to return to in-person, out-the-back bottle releases for quite some time. Join us, grab your bottles, and hit the taproom afterwards to try this and 15 other beers on tap.

Keep tabs on our social media for more info on additional Barrel Aged Summer (and then some) releases. There's going to be some fun stuff rolling out, and we can’t wait to share it with all of you: guests, friends, and collaborators.

- Eric Bramwell, Head Brewer and Co-Founder, Riverlands Brewing Company

Announcing Our New Ongoing Charity Drive: RMHC-CNI

At Riverlands, we’ve done our best over the past three years of operation to give back to our Tri-Cities communities and charities that hold a special place in our hearts. Through food and clothing drives, school supply programs and head shaving events for pediatric cancer research, we’ve found unique and fun ways to raise awareness and funds for various causes.

Recently, we asked ourselves…what’s a way we can give back on a daily basis over an extended period of time? The answer: COLLECTING CAN TABS FOR RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES OF CHICAGOLAND & NORTHWEST INDIANA.

For those who don’t know, RMHC-CNI provides “Housing, Support, and Community So Families with Sick Children Can Stay Together.”

WHY COLLECT CAN TABS? Several reasons:

• It’s something simple we can all do.

• It’s something we have PLENTY of access to.

• It supports our company values of continuously becoming better stewards of the environment.

• It helps support a GREAT and LOCAL cause by raising funds for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Chicagoland & Northwest Indiana.

All collected tabs will be donated to RMHC-CNI. In turn, their partner United Scrap Metal buys the tabs at the current market value of aluminum and make an additional charitable contribution as well.

HOW CAN YOU HELP? Simple.

• At the taproom: Order a can pour! We’ll immediately pull off and donate your can tab when you finish your beer.

• At home and abroad: Start pulling can tabs off your cans, rinse and collect them. Once you have a full container (zip lock bag, small box, shoe box, whatever!) , bring them to our taproom where they’ll be added to our collection vase.

• Once we’ve gathered a sizable donation, we’ll weigh and turn them in!

OUR GOAL: Collect a million tabs (789.27 pounds!) and become a member of the Thanks-A-Million Program. With your help, we can do it! Start collecting tabs today and turn them in when you visit us.

A Heartfelt THANK YOU for our Successful St. Baldrick's Event

Last year, March 2021, a new tradition was started at our brewery in St. Charles: our annual St. Baldrick’s Foundation fundraiser and head shaving event. It was a great success, and we decided immediately to continue holding this event for the foreseeable future.

Fast forward to this year and we find ourselves once again humbled by the outpouring of support for this year’s fundraiser. With just seven participants signed up to be shaved, we were still able to not just meet, but CRUSH $10,000 goal. Total online and cash donations have now exceeded $11,000 dollars and counting.

One thing is for sure…one participant has gone above and beyond the call of duty at our event both years, and despite his currently tiny stature, his big heart has virtually carried our events! Sam Welch lost his cousin, Emma, to childhood cancer a few years back, and ever since, he has shaved his head once per year to raise awareness and funds for pediatric cancer research in her name. We couldn’t be more honored to host Sam again this year and watch him smash the “competition” with well over $6,200 in donations! Not to mention his amazing family who came out in high numbers to support our event!

Thank you, Sam, as well as ALL of our shavees (Michael Dotson, Derek Weber, Matt Milligan, JD Orlicz, Eric Blackburn, Jeremy Teel, , for inspiring us again this year and helping us reach our fundraising goal!

Although our goal has been met, we’re STILL collecting donations of either cash at the taproom or virtually through the St. Baldrick’s event site until the end of March. Be a hero, like Sam and our other shavees, without harming a hair on your head. Donate today.

Not Pictured, But Also Awesome: Eric Blackburn, Jeremy Teel

Riverlands: Year Three Anniversary Details

At noon today, tickets for our three year anniversary party on March 19 go on sale. Here are some important details to keep in mind before purchasing tickets to this year’s event.

1) This is a strictly 21-and-over ticketed event and we will be closed to the general public. There are currently no DD ticket options as we need to fill every seat with folks who are “here for the beer.” We highly suggest using Uber or having a DD lined up to pick you up after the event.

2) Tickets are sold by the TABLE. This means you can purchase a single bar seat, or a table for two, four, or six people. Tables are VERY limited, so get your crew lined up before purchasing.

3) There are three sessions to choose from: 12-2pm, 3-5pm, and 6-8pm. Limit ONE SESSION PER PERSON/PARTY.

4) Your $40 ticket includes:

- admittance to your session

- three beers off the menu, and up to ONE 5oz pour of Riverlands III BA Imperial Stout

- one 11.5oz gold rimmed Year Three glass

- guaranteed option to buy up to two bottles of RL3 (NOT INCLUDED IN TICKET PRICE)

- Live music throughout the day

- Other special secret BA tappings for each session

5) Show up hungry! Fire & Smoke BBQ will be serving all day. Food purchases are separate from ticket price.

Can’t make it to the party but still want to purchase bottles? Any leftover bottles will go on sale the FOLLOWING WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23. Keep an eye on our social channels for any potential buying opportunities.

Brewer's Corner: A Return to Drinkability

Hi River Rascals! I’ve been meaning to do more of these posts as I unfortunately don’t get to spend as much time out in the taproom talking to people as I’d like, so these are a nice way to talk beer, Riverlands beer specifically. The topic of this round of “The Brewer’s Corner” is the Return to Drinkability. This is a topic that’s been on our mind at Riverlands for quite some time, and it’s begun to inform our approach to almost every beer we make with a few exceptions (looking at you, Imperial Stouts and Pastry Power sour).

Nowhere is this approach more apparent than our lagers. Last time I did a post like this, it was to go into detail about how we’ve revamped our lager program and since then, we’ve gone deep into the lager well. Nothing beats the drinkability of a well-constructed pale lager like a Pilsner or Helles. Using the same love and craftsmanship we poured into those beers to make them complex yet supremely drinkable, we took a hard look at our other great love, our Hazy IPA’s.

This style is really at the heart of our Return to Drinkability initiative. A handful of years ago, the New England Style IPA took the Chicagoland area by storm. The full-bodied smooth mouthfeel, the residual sweetness, the low bitterness and high hop flavors appealed to our senses, and we fully embraced the haze craze. As we’ve done with many other styles, we Chicago area brewers put our own stamp on the style, and our hazies pushed the envelope in body and mouthfeel. This is achieved through many hallmarks of brewing the style, like water chemistry and a high protein malt grain bill, but also through residual sugar. Unfermented sugar leaves a beer with more body, and this can be enhanced with brewing sugars like maltodextrin and lactose. Chicago-area hazy IPA became heavier, fuller, and different than its coastal cousins.

This brings me back to the Return to Drinkability. As our Assistant Brewer, Nick, and I were each drinking a pint of one of our hazy doubles, we both remarked how difficult it was to drink these beers by the pint. Nick had been saying how he had wanted to brew a drier version of one of our hazies, inspired by his love of a particularly well-known West Coast haze maker. I had been hesitant to do so, but upon being tired of our beer’s heaviness while trying to finish a pint, I said let’s do it. Our beer Coastal Daze was born from this idea, but that approach quickly began to influence our other hazies too. Nick trades beer, and I’ve been lucky enough to try beers from across the country that many consider to be the best hazy IPA’s around. I’ve also made my obligatory beer pilgrimage out to New England to try the OGs of the style straight from the source. Aside from the obvious hop saturation and mouthfeel wizardry the best seem to have dialed in, they all shared the quality of being amazingly drinkable even as the ABV increased. Surprised was an understatement when I drank a Triple IPA from one of these breweries and thought it seemed almost refreshing, drinking more like single IPA’s I was seeing back home.

Slowly over the course of the past six months or so, we’ve altered our approach to these beers. We’ve slowly began trying to dry them out, decreasing the level of sweetness and trying not to rely on sugar to create the creamy mouthfeel we all love. In the coming weeks, we’ll be releasing some of our returning favorites, as well as some new haze, and all will be brewed with the idea that, even in a double IPA, drinkability is king. You should want to order another pint upon finishing the glass of hop juice in your hand. I get that sugar is delicious. We’re biologically wired to love it, but these were never meant to be decadent beers. A hazy IPA should be a beer you can enjoy while sitting with your friends having a beer or two and not feel like you just had a cheeseburger.

“So, what’s changed?” you may be asking yourself. To start, lower finishing gravity, which means less residual sugar left in the beer. We want a lot of that perceived juiciness to come from the flavor of the expensive hops we used in large quantities, not just sugar levels. When we throw a ton of Citra in a beer, we want that to be what hits you hardest. Next, we simplified some steps in both process and recipe to bring you a lighter colored beer to be a better canvas for those hops to play on, and less to get in the way of wanting to take another sip. We’ve also been carbonating these beers slightly higher to help these flavors dance across your tongue, keeping things bright and lively.

In closing, we want to brew the beer we want to drink, and we want to drink IPA’s that we can have more than one of in a sitting. We’ve always looked for ways to put our own stamp on everything we do, whether its in our recipe our process. We’ve adjusted both here to bring you our take on what we really think these beers should be. With the release of our Anniversary triple IPA, our double IPA Neon River, and our IPA Dean Street all coming this week and next, we hope you all will enjoy the approach we took as much as we have.

Eric Bramwell
Head Brewer/Co-Owner
Riverlands Brewing Company

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.

Boxes & Boards - A Charcuterie & Flight Night

Graze some meats, cheese, fruits, and more while sampling some St. Charles craft beer on Friday, August 13!

Our new friend Rosanna from Chewcuterie Grazing Boards is supplying these SUBLIME boxes in two sizes: 2-person and 4-person. With an incredible mix of fresh meats, cheeses, fruit, and grains, these boards are well worth the price!

We’re pre-selling these boxes for the evening of Friday, August 13. Here’s what you get:

• Either one 2-person or 4-person charcuterie box

• $2.00 off any flight of four 5oz pours of our St. Charles brewed beer

• An evening of awesomeness!

Hit our online store to reserve yours today, then just show us your receipt (via email we send out) to pick up your box and pick out your flight!

We MAY have a limited amount of extra boxes available that night, but pre-ordering is the ONLY way to guarantee this experience!

PRE-ORDER LINK: bit.ly/riverlands

Live Music in St. Charles Continues!

The Second Half of This Summer’s Sunday Sessions

Our Sunday Sessions have continued to bring good times and great vibes to our Sunday crowd at the taproom. Each week, our brewery features live music in St. Charles with local musicians and food vendors pairing up for a fantastically fun time on our patio (or in our taproom if the weather fails us.)

Food starts when we open at noon, and music at 1pm every week.

Here’s the lineup for the second half of summer:

• Aug 8

  • Food by: Sour Peach, LLC with Steam Buns!

  • Music by: Jason Benefield

• Aug 15

  • Food by: Aijo Kitchen Asian Fusion

  • Music by: Make It A Double modern bluegrass

• Aug 22

  • Food by: TBA

  • Music by: Alan Snyder

• Aug 29

  • Food by: All Star Grilled Cheese

  • Music by: Rik’s Beach Bar Band

• Sept 5

  • Food by: Burger Buzz

  • Music by: Matt Keen

• Sept 12

  • Food by: ACE, a culinary experience

  • Music by: Jason Benefield

• Sept 19

  • Food by: TBA

  • Music by: Joey Wilbur, the One Man Ginger Band

• Sept 26

  • Food by: The Argonaut, seafood boils and more!

  • Music by: Greg Torrence

Visit our brewery in St. Charles for local beer, local food, and local music all summer long!