Grandpa Brews

Genny is no longer made in bottles, cans only.




Also, I drink a fuck ton of Old Milwaukee, that's counts.

 

Yeah, the brewery claims it dates from their founding but I've never seen evidence of it and it just isn't what brewers did in the 1820s- name a beer after a historic figure.

(Oddly, there were a number of other ales labeled "Lord ____ Ale" . There was "Lord Camden Ale" from across the Delaware, at least one in Ohio and in another in Phila., and even including from crosstown rival, Mt. Carbon Brewing Co. but I don't know which was first, etc.)

LCA starts showing up after Repeal, tho', but not much info on it. Here's an ad from '38, looking like it did when I first came across it (except no idea if that green or brown glass - it came in both when I was buying it):

In the '70s, I found it a much hoppier and more fragrant, slightly sweeter, ale than today and was similar to and just behind Ballantine and McSorley's my other favorite "golden" ales).

Not sure when they switched to Cascades - the 1982 GABF entry says only, vaguely, "Yakima Valley pellet hops in the kettle and dry-hopping". Not very specific but common usage in the industry at the time.

As I've said before, the current (beginning circa 1990s?) version is not the same beer and even "non-beer geeks" I know agree.

 

Even more evidence, from the brewery's own ad in town, just weeks after Full Repeal:


In industry terminology of the period, a "Canadian-type" ale was a hoppy, yet otherwise similar to US sparkling/cream ales, which were noted for being similar in color and carbonation to lager beers. Ballantine's post-Repeal owners and brewmaster said their new recipe for Ballantine XXX Ale was based on Canadian ales of the US Prohibition period.

 

Genny Cream is still available, but pretty much only in central NYS and in "not upscale" stores, I haven't seen it on tap in about 15 years. Genny beer balls (5 gallon plastic ball with a manual pump) were great for parties.

Matt's is still around too, but I think it's brewed by Saranac now.

 

Still available in NJ and, I'm sure in Pennsylvania, too (where it was one of the largest selling beers in the 1970s - much to the chagrin of PA's local breweries) Would expect it is still shipped to some New England states, Ohio and down to MD and DE, etc..

F. X. Matt (formerly the West End Brewing Co., up to the 1980s) was always the brewer of the namesake Matt's Premium as well as Utica Club and, starting in the mid-80s, the Saranac brand.
Says so right on their Saranac logo:

 

One beer that I miss is High Falls / Genesee "12 Horse Ale". I can't even remember when they did away with it but it's been a decade or more (?). I couldn't even get it in PA back then, I had to go to New York state. Maybe it was available but I never found it.

 

Ok thanks for clearing that up for me. I've never seen Genny Cream outside of the Binghamton-Rochester corridor and no Genesee beers outside of upstate NY.

Got it backwards then. I knew Matt's, UC (my FIL's favorite), and Saranac had the same owner, but thought it was Saranac.

 

I’m not surprised. When I moved to Ontario from Quebec in the late nineties, I had never heard of it. I first had it at the McMaster University graduate student pub and was never able to find it at the Beer Store. Where it is available, it has only been available in cases of 24 and in the non-glossy cardboard that used to be the packaging that was used for bars/restaurants rather than retail.

I’m not surprised it was dumbed down. It reminded me very much of Molson Export which was always more popular in Quebec than Molson Canadian.

A couple others that come to mind that I think are still available here:

Red Cap, brewed recently by Brick/Waterloo
I think Dominion and Black Horse May still be available in Newfoundland as well.

 

Yup, we get Genesee Cream Ale and 'regular' Genesee Beer (& Light version) too. Also for the first time in a very long time Genesee Bock was sold here as well.

In the recent past we obtained some of their specialty beers (see example in link below) but I have not seen those specialty beers in a while.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/new-beer-sunday-week-593.431995/#post-4877647

Cheers!

 

What's the closest thing to Lord Chesterfield today?

 

Still Cascade.

 

I'm guessing at one time it was brewed with Cluster. Cluster used to be the workhorse hop for American brewers. I remember seeing boxes and boxes of them just sitting out, un-refrigerated, at Iron City. Haha! I also remember visiting Iron City in its last days and walking into the area where the packaged beer was stored prior to shipping and only seeing contract-brewed brands stacked to the ceiling. You had to walk to the end of the warehouse to find the Iron City, and then there wasn't really that much of it there in comparison. If I'm not mistaken they were working with flavored versions of I.C. Light at the time.

 

I saw an article several months (maybe a year?) ago which talked about the rift between the two in their brewing arrangement. Here is a similar article, not as good, but all I could find on it in 3 minutes of search:

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/17/mil...al-battle-is-headed-to-trial-in-november.html

I would hate to think these iconic brands would go away due to available brewing capacity. I have to wonder how much big business near-monopoly plays against free-market availability.

Edit: I did a smarter search, and found that they have settled the lawsuit... https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/29/millercoors-pabst-settle-lawsuit-over-brewing-contract.html

 

Are any still brewed with Cluster?

 

Matts is no longer made and has always been brewed by Saranac/FX Matts. I'm a local.

 

And once again there's Red Cap Ale, Erlanger, Encore, and National Premium. And I am a Grandpa.

 

https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...s-is-trying-to-put-it-out-of-business.594304/
https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...battle-is-headed-to-trial-in-november.578128/

 

Yeah, what's with so many folk on this site being in their sixties-seventies I chalked it up to being an older (1996) site, millennials turning their noses up to beer, or forums giving way to social media

 

https://www.originalcreamale.com/
redirected from
https://www.geneseebeer.com/beer/genesee/#

 

We refuse to give up the ghost. I did what I could to help change the beer landscape in North Carolina. I made a living trying to do so.