Riverwalk Empire Pilsner
River Dog Brewing Co.

Looks like a great, hearty pils on the pour. Aroma is a bit off-putting with too much cracker-type malt. And that led to the taste and feel..which was a bit too harsh and unbalanced. Nice try, but i'll stick with my go-to pilsners

Paying tribute to America's pilsner-esque roots long before beer was sold by talking frogs, scantily cladded women and American flag draped horses, River Dog shakes the dust off of the pro-prohibition style lager for their summertime crusher of a beer.

Riverwalk Empire pours a rather keller-like hazy gold and with a cottony white froth before enticing the nose with a fresh bready, herbal and spicy hop scent. As the crisp pilsner malts give the early palate a malty upstart its taste is brisk with honey, bread and dry cereal.

As the flavors rapidly evolve, the sweetness starts to drift and the herbal hops build upon the drying malts with a floral fruitiness of honeysuckle met with lemon, apple and pear. A touch of peppery sulfur is swiftly swept up by herbal hops that turn from grassy parsley toward lemongrass in a pleasantly biting and bitter balance to end.

Medium light for a pilsner but generally lighter overall, the pilsner is a fuller flavored alternative to industrial light lager but in the end Riverwalk Empire will be a hard standout in a crowded pilsner style field.

 

on draft, served in shaker pint glass

clear, bright yellow in color, foamy white head. Aroma and taste is bready pale malt, a little sweet. thin to medium bodied.

Straw colored with moderate head that dissipates quickly. Nose is light and citrusy. Mouthfeel is light. Taste is typical pilsner: light with a lager feel, crisp, slightly bready.

I'm trying this beer at Hudson's in Hilton Head, SC. It poured a clear golden with thin white head that is not leaving any lace. The scent had faint grain notes. The taste was nicely balanced and easy to drink with grain presence. The mouthfeel was lighter in body with good carbonation. Overall its a good beer.

 

Poured from the tap into a pint glass at River Dog Brewing in Ridgeland South Carolina. The appearance is a clear golden yellow color with a small white head. The taste is buttery, to the point of overpowering. A good beer.

 

 

A: Pours a clear pale yellow in color with light to moderate amounts of active visible carbonation rising from the bottom of the glass and faint golden yellow highlights. The beer has a half finger tall sudsy foamy off-white head that quickly reduces to a medium to large sized patch of very thin film and a thin ring at the edges of the glass. Light amounts of lacing are observed.

S: Light to moderate aromas of cereal grain + bready malts with minimal amounts of sweetness and light aromas of grassy + earthy hops.

T: Upfront there is a light to moderate flavor of cereal grain + bready malts with a light hint of grainy sweetness which fades away quickly. That is followed by slightly stronger than light flavors of grassy + earthy hops which impart a light amount of bitterness which lingers for a short amount of time.

M: Slightly heavier than light bodied with moderate amounts of carbonation. Initially crisp with a hint of dryness in the finish.

O: Easy to drink and enjoyable with well hidden alcohol. Would be a really easy drinking beer for the hot Carolina summer.

A: The beer is clear yellow in color and has a light amount of visible carbonation. It poured with a short bright white head that died down, leaving lacing on the surface and a collar around the edge of the glass.
S: Light to moderate aromas of bready malts and grassy hops are present in the nose.
T: The taste follows the smell, starting off with flavors of bready malts and finishing with grassy hops, the latter of which contribute a light amount of bitterness.
M: It feels light- to medium-bodied on the palate and has a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: This beer is easy to drink and has a good balance between the malts and hops.

Serving type: can

First I would assume this is a new beer from a newer brewer. I purchased a 6 pack of this at the local beer store. The 6pack comes in a well designed and handsome fold top box. The can design is well done so I have to give some credit to the presentation of the packaging. The beer pours nice and clear with little head. The smell is in line with what you would find with most German Pilseners. The taste is quite dry and follows suit just the way it should. It's a light beer, with low carbonation. It doesn't have a watery feel or taste though because the pilsener bitterness and dryness attributes are both there. This goes down quite well on a hot summer day and is very refreshing and would be equally good on a cold day because it packs enough to have a little complexity. A good beer. Pilsner's are my favorite style and I prefer the Czech style over the German but this one is a good representation of the German style. Solid beer and more than worth a try if you enjoy the style.