Genesee Cream Ale

Brewed by Genesee Brewing Company
Style: Cream Ale
Rochester, New York USA

Serve in Footed Pilsner, Lager glass

Pours a golden color. Medium sized white foamy head. Smells of skunk and cream. Taste is quite heavenly. Mmmmmm. Love this beer.

Poured a very light yellow with a foamy white head. Aroma is rotten and skunky. Taste is sweet and creamy with pale malts. Some spices. Finish is slightly skunky and malty. Not that bad!

Clear yellow with a fizzy white head. Sweet malty aroma and a slightly tangy bready and citrus taste with a flat kinda putrid finish.

Bottle- The appearance is a golden yellow and has a foamy head when first poured into a glass. It had a slightly sweet smell but the taste did not convey that. The feel was sort of refreshing and did not leave an after taste as with a lot of generic/local beers. I rate this better than any of the lite beers and can not argue with the price. I cut my teeth on this brew growing up in Western NY and it was still enjoyable to drink after all these years. "Always ask for Jenny"

A lot of regions have one beer they’re known for, but not necessarily for a good reason. Genesee Cream Ale is a rather famous brew from Rochester, New York, mostly because it was one of the originators of its style (and one of the few remaining). You can’t really tell much of a difference between it and an average macro lager aside from its slightly creamy texture. Not that it’s a terrible beer, but there isn’t a lot to appreciate about it.

APPEARANCE AND AROMA

I poured a 12oz can into a nonic pint glass. Genny Cream Ale forms a huge frothy head upon a vigorous pour which eventually settles down to a nice two-finger layer of rocky foam. The body is almost identical to any macro pale lager with a straw color which is extremely clear and bubbly. The carbonation calms down quickly, as does the head, but it does leave some impressive lacing on the glass.

The aroma has a familiar generic "beer" smell of grain and corn. I don’t get any hops or malts at all. There’s something of a faint sweetness as well, but not enough to be inviting.

TASTE

In a blind taste test there’s a pretty good chance I might not be able to distinguish Genny Cream Ale from any generic macro lager. It tastes pretty much the same with a slightly sweet taste of corn followed by a mélange of grain. It’s not off-putting the way many of the "budget beers" tend to be, and the sweetness of the corn is complemented by a light creamy sweetness as well. Not being an expert on the cream ale style, I can’t tell you if there’s any actual cream used in the brewing process (none of the websites I researched mentioned cream being used), but there’s definitely a sweetness present here that you only get in cream.

Drank cold, Genny Cream Ale is very refreshing even though the palate doesn’t really impress me. As it warms it takes on a bit of a metallic tang and the corn presence becomes more prominent. It’s easy to tolerate and it doesn’t repulse me, but in the end it’s just a neutral-tasting beer.

DRINKABILITY

I’ve often thought the major detriment to macro adjunct lagers is their harsh edge that is overly-carbonated and tends to wreck havoc on the palate. With Genny Cream Ale it’s like drinking one of those beers but with an extremely smooth finish. There’s definitely a slightly creamy texture to the body which helps explain why it’s so smooth and soft in the mouth. It goes down easily and can be chugged or gulped without any problems.

At 5.2% ABV this is a totally average beer in terms of potency, approaching "light." It can be sessioned under the proper circumstances (i.e. picnics, sporting events, and other venues with food on hand), but even then it would be more of a generic beverage than something to truly savor.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Genesee Cream Ale is a good alternative to your average macro adjunct lager based on drinkability alone. It’s also extremely thrifty as it’s cheaper than "The Big 3" where I live. It might make a good stepping-stone for BMC drinkers into craft beer, but beer nerds aren’t likely to find much to appreciate here.

Honestly, I can’t find anything wrong with Genesee Cream Ale. I’m 6 beers into a 12-pack and they are going down with ease. There is nothing offensive about it. Pretty standard light fare and it honestly isn’t hard to drink. I bet I’ll have some monster farts tomorrow, though. I had this at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo once with a pile of wings and it was a perfect 5 for that occassion.

Poured from bottle. Smells like adjunct with a subtle overtone of eau de pickle. It does look like beer, with a pleasant enough yellow-gold color and a white head that leaves lace. Taste is metallic and unpleasant, a veritable festival of creamed corn, flat toast, used tinfoil, and a slight skunky funk. Palate is sharp and prickly. Didn’t finish it.

Bottle. Pours a clear golden color with a small off-white head. Has a sweetish malty creamy caramel aroma. Sweetish malty creamy caramel flavor. Has a sweetish malty finish with some hints of caramel in the aftertaste.