Riverlands (2020)

Made my first trip to Riverlands the day after Christmas after running the kids around the river walk a bit. Tried short pours of Yellow Kayak and Kamoho. Both very enjoyable. Played some Uno with my kids (lost). Grabbed some Neon River cans to go. It's excellent. A+ on the music - Master of Puppets album in entirety, and I couldn't place what they put on when leaving - maybe Baroness. Taproom was lively. I'll definitely be back when it's time to go to the inlaws again.

 

Glad you liked it. Great food truck situation with Chuck’s pizza and Toasty Cheese (recently added) frequently involved.

 

Saw that. No food truck on the day we went. Was hoping for Toasty Cheese for the kids. So it goes.

I love their answer on their website about whether they are family friendly. Every brewery that allows kids should cut and paste that exact statement. It's like they asked me how I would personally answer that question.

 

I drive all the way out from LZ. Closest taproom by me that’s easily accessible is Mikerphone even though Phase Three “cans” down the street from me. Hence why I make the drive when I can. Great vibe and the beers are always excellent. Can’t wait to crack this BA Catch Of The Day.

 

Anyone have issues with short fill cans? Opened a Neon River this evening and it was short 2 ounces. Beer was still good. Gave a shake to my last can and also definitely short. And yes, I've reached out.

 

Opposite end of the spectrum...I've had issues with cans being filled to the brim, so that when I cracked them open the beer seeped out the edges & down the sides of the can. I had the same issue with early Phase Three releases but they seem to have fixed it.

Which is to say...while my issue is diametrically opposed to yours, they seem to stem from the same base problem. Filling the cans consistently.

 

Many breweries weigh their cans as a measure of QC, and reject cans less than a certain weight. I know that’s something noon whistle doesn’t. It’s a good step for breweries can’t yet afford dissolved O2 readers. Maybe Riverlands should go that route as they grow and gain enough capital to purchase more QC instruments.

I’ve become a pretty big fan of what Riverlands is doing. Sure they have the hazy thing figured out, but they’ve also made some really nice traditional beers like a Vienna lager collab and an English mild “Pub” ale that is pretty well executed.

 

Hey guys, just checking in on the new thread! I'm Eric, the brewer. Anyone have any questions/concerns, I usually try to keep an eye out here and will try to answer/address things in a timely manner.

We use a mobile canning operation, and while we really like the job they do for us, it does take some of the control out of our hands. We have tested our DO thanks to our friends at Triptych bringing their instrument for our collab and were happy with the numbers, but we're still taking steps to improve it further. We do weigh cans throughout the run to look for shorties. While we do our best to make sure those don't make it into 4-packs, it does occasionally happen. Sorry to the above poster who got a couple, we truly do our best to ensure that is a very rare thing.

I'm looking forward to our 2nd year bringing you guys the best beer we can make, and another year of interacting with everyone here. Cheers!

 

@RBCBrams17 any plans to bottle campfire tales soon!?

 

I can't give you an exact timeframe, but bringing that one back is on our radar for sure

 

Glad to see (from IG story) Silt is coming back soon. I hope his brother Murky Waters isn’t far behind...

 

All good Eric. Appreciate the quick response. I figured it was some form of technical growing pains. Best of luck in your second year! And watch out for those rapscallions from Triptych. They have small hands that smell of cabbage.

 

Hope that stout makes it out to distro...

 

is that a typo? $18 for a 4 pack of imperial stout is extremely cheap.

$20 for a neipa is a bit eye-brow raising though, that'd make it the priciest i've seen locally.

 

After Neon River I'm looking forward to trying this all galaxy hazy. Anybody try it yet?

 

$20 is on par with some of the more over-hopped Half Acre releases, among others. I would imagine galaxy hops still ain't cheap nowadays, and maybe they used a lot of 'em?

 

You actually have a bunch of breweries closer, in fact, you are only minutes from Tighthead in Mundelein

With regard to Riverlands, I know that is a hike for most people out to St. Charles. If you want to make a fun day of it, combine that with Penrose in Geneva and eat in downtown Geneva area. Great area...

 

Haven't been out that way in a while, but House Pub sometimes has good taps and that close as well.