Genesee Citrus Pils
Genesee Brewing Co.

Genesee Brewing Co. "Citrus Pils"
12 fl. oz. can coded "K235 15 04:16"
$2.33 @ Wegmans, Collegeville, PA

Notes via stream of consciousness: This is brewed with "NATURAL FLAVORS". Wow, just cracking it open, it smells like grapefruit candy. I can smell it from two feet away. It's poured a clear dark golden body that's got almost an orange sheen to it beneath a short head of bright white foam. The aroma is bright, as mentioned, and exactly like a piece of grapefruit flavored hard candy. I don't smell any malt, and I certainly don't smell any hops. On to the taste, as I suspected, it tastes like a hard grapefruit candy. That seems to be the theme to this beer, although there is a little bit of malt to it as well. I don't get any hop character, nor do I get any real bitterness. It's like a grapefruit soda pop. I'm not sure what the point of this is other than to make a citrusy beer that's inexpensive as there are no hops in it. Disappointing. In the mouth it's light-medium in body and gently crisp. The head retention was OK, and there's some nice lacing, but beyond appearance this is a disaster. At least it's well-made.
Review #9,433

This is another cheap but solid fruited beer from Genesee. It's right up there with the ruby red grapefruit beer IMO. Nice real citrus (mainly orange) flavor with a straightforward but not bland base beer. Very quaffable and surprisingly tasty.

Clear deep gold , with quickly-dissipating white head.

Smells like grapefruit seltzer. I was going to say "soda", but it's less sweet than that.

Taste is .....hmmmm.... not like any pils I've ever had. Opens more like a wheat ale blended with lemon-lime soda, the finishes with grapefruit+ grapefruit pith. Not horrible, but doesn't remotely fit its description. If I was rating to style, it'd be a -1. Taking it for what it is, I'll go slightly higher. ;)

Feel is light, with moderate, semi-sharp carbonation tingle.

Overall, this is a miss. Maybe , just maybe, on a really hot summer day, I might enjoy it. Just don't tell me that you're giving me [& you'd have to GIVE it] a pils. :)

 

On tap at Genesee Brew House in Rochester, NY.

This one pours a fairly clear golden straw yellow, with a small head, and lots of lacing.

This smells vaguely fruity, and unfortunately a bit artificial.

Genesee had made some good fruited lighter lagers, but this isn’t really one of them. It says it’s made with natural tangerine and lime flavors, but this doesn’t taste all that natural to me, unfortunately. The pilsner base is uninteresting and fading into the background of the slick and artificial-seeming fruit notes.

This is light bodied, and not super drinkable.

This was disappointing – I’ve enjoyed stuff like their grape pilsner or lemon strawberry cream ale more in this admittedly silly arena of beers.