Tell me about Genesee beer

[Ellen_Cherry]

@samclem

Moved from General Questions to IMHO.

samclem, MOderator

And I’m sliding it on over to Cafe Society.

[notfrommensa]

@postcards

For a student at SUNY Oneonta in the late 70’s, Genny Cream Ale (is it still in the green cans?) was a fine addition to any party.

Take that as written.

Slight hijack - Whatever happen to Molsen Golden Ale? That was pretty big in the late 70s-early 80s, but I don’t think I’ve seen it since then. Even on a couple of trips to Ottawa, no one seems to remember it.

We might have met! I went to HS in Oneonta in the late 70’s and did my fair share of partying in at Abners, Copper Fox and, the Rail

At that time, my beer of choice of Miller High Life. But I do like Genny Cream Ale. Do not drink the regular stuff, or UC!

FTR, Drinking age in NY was 18 in the late 70s.

[bmoak]

IIRC the company was owned by the Unification Church for a while, but is now owned by the Labatt’s people. The beer is just the cheapo local brew, but some people have a fondness for the Cream Ale, which is different. Even though everyone has called it “Genny” since time immemorial, the recent trend of the company referring to itself as “Genny” instead of Gennesee in ads and packaging irks me.

[Exapno_Mapcase]

@Justin_Bailey

Really? A lot of places serve it. Look, I even found a menu for one online:

http://www.owlhouserochester.com/pdf/beverage.php

I’ve been meaning to get there, but haven’t been yet. That link doesn’t actually show any beer, but I found one that does.

Genesee Lager is $2.25. Every other draught beer is at least twice that. Tells you everything you need to know about Genny.

It has never been owned by the Unification Church. Or by Labatt’s.

In February 2009, High Falls Brewery was sold to a New York City investment group KPS Capital Partners to be run as part of its North American Breweries subsidiary.

North American Breweries is a new parent corporation established by New York City investment firm KPS Capital Partners to manage its brewery acquisitions: Genesee Brewing Company, Dundee Brewing Company, Pyramid, Magic Hat, and MacTarnahan’s. The company also manages Labatt USA, which imports Labatt beer into the US, and imports Imperial beer from Costa Rica. The company is based at the Genesee Brewing Company corporate offices in Rochester, New York.

Labatt’s is a separate Canadian company.

[Gary_Robson]

@Smapti

It seems like a pretty good price, but it also seems too good - experience has taught me to be wary of any beer that’s TOO inexpensive, and my taste in beer tends more towards IPA and microbrew ales rather than standard lagers (I DETEST Budweiser/Coors/Miller-type stuff, and about the closest I come to macrobrew is Henry Weinhard’s).

In a blind taste test, I doubt if the average beer drinker could tell the difference between Bud/Coors/Miller and Genesee Lager.

[Swords_to_Plowshares]

@Gary "Wombat" Robson

In a blind taste test, I doubt if the average beer drinker could tell the difference between Bud/Coors/Miller and Genesee Lager.

Probably not, but the Cream Ale is significantly different from the BMC lagers, and it seems to be a more popular beer than Genny or Genny Light.

[MPB_in_Salt_Lake]

@postcards

Slight hijack - Whatever happen to Molsen Golden Ale? That was pretty big in the late 70s-early 80s, but I don’t think I’ve seen it since then. Even on a couple of trips to Ottawa, no one seems to remember it.

I remember Molson Golden Ale (green bottle, blue & gold label) and I think it’s still sold in Utah State Liquor Stores.

I haven’t picked any up in a while, as I usually go for Molson Canadian or if feeling saucy, maybe even Molson Ice.

I will have to make a visit, but as it’s Sunday, it won’t be today…

[silenus]

Cream Ale - goodish

Lager - crap

[Cheshire_Human]

I drink a 24 oz can of the stuff maybe once every week or two, because a friend of mine sells it in his convenience store, and I help him out there every now and then in exchange for one. I like it. It’s not the greatest thing on earth, but it’s a decent cheap beer.

[Mahaloth]

It’s 99 cents per 24 oz. can here in Michigan and is far and away the best “cheap” beer, 10x better than Milwaukee Best or Natural Light.

Heck, it has its own song.

It’s really pretty good, but nothing super amazing. Buy some.

[Doctor]

I went to college in Buffalo in the 80’s and Genesee’s advertising slogan was “The taste of the great outdoors in a glass.” Our response to that was always, “Picture a man outdoors facing a tree…”

Yeah, cheapo local beer. It would do the job, but there was definitely better.

[Khadaji]

We drank it in college because it was cheap. We drank Genny “Pounders” (16 ounce beers) and played a game where you’d try to throw your beer cap into someone else’s mug. If you hit it, they had to pound their beer.

We hit an amazing amount of times.

I don’t remember it as good beer though.

[Justin_Bailey]

@Exapno_Mapcase

I’ve been meaning to get there, but haven’t been yet.

You definitely should, the food is great. If you ever went to Skippy’s Veg Cafe when it was open, it’s very similar.

[Yorikke]

It’s been 15 years since I lived in NJ, but I loved Genny Cream Ale…

Joe

[Little_Nemo]

@Khadaji

We drank it in college because it was cheap. We drank Genny “Pounders” (16 ounce beers) and played a game where you’d try to throw your beer cap into someone else’s mug. If you hit it, they had to pound their beer.

We hit an amazing amount of times.

I don’t remember it as good beer though.

I’m guessing there’s a lot about those nights you don’t remember.

[cckerberos]

@lazybratsche

“B” on Beer Advocate is a pretty respectable grade, especially you like the style. Lots of my favorite beers are in that range. “C” can often translate to “unremarkable but inoffensive”. “A” seems to be reserved for “best in the world”. So I would interpret that as Beer Advocate says Genesee makes some bad beer and some good beer, though it’s nothing exceptional.

ETA: For what it’s worth, Honey Brown was my preferred cheapass beer in college (which is Dundee but I see that they were bought out by Genesee).

None of the beers the OP was asking about were in the B range.

My issue with Beer Advocate is that I think many reviewers just base their grade on how much they like a particular beer rather than putting the beer in the context of its style.

[hogarth]

On a trip to upstate NY 15 years ago, we bought some cans of Genessee Cream Ale. I thought it mostly tasted like aluminum can. I wasn’t impressed. But the price was good.