Genesee Brewing Co.
Rochester, NY
Available: n/a
Genesee Brewing Co. was founded in 1878 and is still family-operated. Brewer of the iconic Genny Cream Ale, Genesee produces beers under its own and a variety of other brand names.
ABV: 5.5
ABW: 4.3
Color: 10
Bitterness: 10
Original gravity: 1053
Looks aren’t everything in a beer, of course, but I was struck how much this amber looked like Shipyard’s Wheat, which I had tasted earlier. It’s not every day you sample doppelganger beers back-to-back! But looks are where the similarities end. This beer presents aromas of light malt and honey with a hard-to-nail down enigma of an fragrance that finally revealed itself as white grapes. Sweet, with honey and lightly toasted malty notes, that wine-like white grape character also comes up at the end of each sip. Wine lovers who are interested in exploring craft beer will certainly enjoy this one.
I’d say it was more dark golden than amber, but that would be quibbling, and there’s really very little to quibble about with this quaffable, middle-of-the-road beer. I love the silky smoothness of the malt on the tongue, and the caramel notes that provide the foundation are very palatable. Bouncing on top are some sherbety-sharp hop notes, bringing with them a distant orange character. There’s a little spiciness to the taste, too. Bitterness picks up in the finish but never really amounts to much. Bring on the roast chicken. This could be a perfect partner.
Lisa Morrison, aka The Beer Goddess, writes about beer whenever she can and also gets to talk about it on a weekly radio show in her hometown of Portland, OR.
Author of the Good Bottled Beer Guide and The Book of Beer Knowledge, Jeff Evans is an eight-time editor of the CAMRA Good Beer Guide and one of Britain's best-known beer writers.
