Buffalo Rising Online

Aug 21st 2006, 2:26am By Ethan Cox

What is this, St. Patrick's day? No: This beer is green from added Woodruff Syrup

As any major dude will tell you, Buffalo was once a beer-spouting capital of the brewing industry... there was a saloon or a tavern on nearly every corner while breweries dotted what is now known as the Medical Corridor (the remains of the Ziegele/Phoenix Brewery stand yet at Virginia & Washington). Local beer historian Stephen Powell writes that:

In 1908 alone, [the] city of Buffalo, NY pumped out over 31 million gallons of beer. Every bit of it was drank locally, none went to waste. So much beer was made [here] that you could run it over Niagara Falls for over a minute and a half!

That's right: turn-of-the century Buffalo was a pretty beery place... with hoards of breweries. Why am I mentioning this? Click through to this month's review to find out...

I'm mentioning this because, before I launch into a column predominated by beers from, um, ok: Rochester, I just wanted to point out that until Buffalo finally rivals Portland, OR for beer production per capita (a scheme I am most assuredly a proponent of, yes indeed), I'm simply not going to be able to do the beer world any justice at all if I only discuss Flying Bison and Pearl Street in every review. I guess this is already obvious given that my previous coverage ranges from Buffalo, to NYS to The World, but I know Ra-cha hits close to the bone, and I'm not interested in any guff. "Good beer you can get in (the city limits of) Buffalo" is the name of this game, and Custom Brewcrafters offers some right now. Deal w/it.

Which takes us first to Ulrich's. When Digger mentioned to me that CB's was making a small batch of Berliner Weisse (they're calling it Pumpkin Hill Wild Goat) for a winery in Aurora, I urged him to get some for Buffalo's Oldest Tavern. Shockingly, he obliged, and with panache: He even got authentic German woodruff and raspberry syrups to add from Spars.

Now, I discussed this style a little in a past review, so I won't go over too much old ground again here. The important things to note about this style are three: It is very much an endangered style right now; it is typically rather sour (the result of lactobacillus); and it is very low in alcohol, leading to a great beat-the-heat sort of beer.

CB's take on the style keeps the sourness in check- perhaps just as well, since sour beers aren't all that common and might strike the unexpected palate rather harshly. Still, I do wish they'd been just a smidgen more daring on that part, since it really is a hallmark of the style. In fact, this Berliner Weisse is mild enough to make adding syrup (called Weifle mit Schuss) just a bit sweeter than really necessary. With raspberry, you're basically in faintly alcoholic pop territory. Woodruff adds a strange but enjoyable complexity- still sweet, but faintly medicinal, too. In any case, I urge you to get on down to Ulrich's for one of these unique beers while they last. With authentically low alcohol levels, you can try it three ways!

Ignore the ad in the background, and grab a quality NYS beer at McGarretts!

The second current home of some killer CB beer is, perhaps curiously to some, McGarretts at the corner of Elmwood and Bidwell. In addition to lots of live music (I like The Skiffle Minstrels on Sunday nights, personally), they actually have a very healthy selection overall- including three varieties of Flying Bison, four selections from Utica's Saranac, and Guinness alternative Murphy's Stout. But last time I was there, I was there for just one selection: CB's coffee ale, Canaltown Brown.

A good coffee beer is a beer of subtlety and finesse- a beer that nicely balances the coffee flavor with the sweetness of the malts and the somewhat redundant bitterness of the hops. As you might imagine, striking this balance right is a fine art. Too little java flavor and you've wasted your coffee, too much and you've wasted the beer. CB's hit it just right with this one, in my estimation. One good test? Can you drink it like a session beer- in this case, I'd go with "Sure, yeah, you betcha!" Maybe that's the 4.75% abv + caffeine talking. The ale arrives dark, allowing only minimal delicately red light, and with a beige head that just laces the glass on the way down. There is unmistakable coffee in the aroma, which nudges the hop profile right into the background but otherwise supports clean notes of crystal malt. If you sip this very cold, your impression is that of an iced coffee (sugar, no cream), but once it warms up a bit, the complexity comes through: yes, coffee, but definitely not sweetened with refined sugar; rather, an identifiable malt backbone. It finishes dry, all throughout with an impressive viscosity- hearty, yet not overfilling. You gotta get one of these while they last, and if McGarretts is out, I understand Ulrich's will be getting some when their run with the Berliner Weisse is done.

Finally, I want to get a little crazy here and review a beer that most consider pedestrian at best, but which represents a truly American brewing style. Ladies & Gentlemen, behold: Genesee Cream Ale

Now, the reason I am bothering to bring up this beer, besides the obvious Ra-cha connection, is not because it's the best beer ever. It's not. But, it's most definitely not the worst, either: note to the nay-sayers out there that this beer has medaled at both the American Beer Festival and the World Beer Cup- both very prestigious competitions. Does it help that not too many brewers make a cream ale? Probably. Yet this is not just another BudMillerCoors rice & corn-fueled mega brew. At one beer rating website, it is the fourth-highest ranked of its style, beating out some big names in micro brewing. Laugh about "Genny Screamers" all you want, this beer is still a contender.

So, what's the story on the cream ale style? Let's start with this: Genesee is made by the High Falls Brewing Co, also the makers of JW Dundee, Michael Shea's, and yes: Steinlager (and you thought is was from New Zealand, didn't you?) They also do some contract brewing, most notably for Sam Adams.

Cream Ale is a hybrid style- it is an ale (that is, it is brewed with top-fermenting yeast), though it is not uncommon to use a blend of ale and lager yeasts. More to the point, it is treated like a lager, in that it is cold-conditioned (ales typically ferment and repose at somewhat higher temperatures than lagers). Moreover, as far as the flavor profile goes, it is crisp, highly carbonated, and very light in color & in flavor, with barely a kiss of hops and no malt character- by any other name, it's a lawnmower beer.

So, whaddup with Genny in particular? If you have to ask, you can't really be from Buffalo. It pours out with a huge fluffy head that sticks around but leaves no lacing, and the smell has major adjuncts to it- corn and even perhaps a hint of alcohol (which, at 5.1% abv, you really shouldn't smell!). Taste? Um... well, when it's cold, there is little more than faint sweetness followed by even more evanescent bitterness- squonk in a glass, perhaps? When it's warm... you don't wanna go near this stuff when it's warm. Still, it is distinct from a BudMillerCoors product, with something more to the body & it's not nearly as preternaturally clean as an American Pilsner.

So that's this month's beer review. As I write this, there is a definite feel of approaching autumn in the air- I know we'll get right back to that summer feeing for another few weeks, but I have to tell you, I sense the days getting shorter and the beers getting stouter already... by next month, expect some of the classic beers of fall to start showing up here & at your local drinkery- Oktoberfests/Marzens, and of course, that staple of the American Micro scene: Pumpkin Beer. Stay Tuned!