The Best-Selling Beer From The '80s That You Probably Haven't Seen In Ages

Look back into recent American history, and most of the popular beer brands you see will be pretty familiar. At the end of the 70s and into the 80s, the two top beers in America were Budweiser and Miller, with other well-known macro brands like Coors and Busch filling out the rankings. There are always the odd riser and fall each decade, like the collapse of Midwestern beer brand Schlitz in the 70s, or the rise of Mexican beers like Modelo and Corona in recent decades, but there is more consistency in beer than you might think. But one massively popular beer from the 80s is nigh unrecognizable to many younger people today: Genesee Cream.

Genesee Cream, also nicknamed "Genny Cream," is a long-running beer from Genesee Brewery in Rochester, New York. Introduced in 1960, the beer won multiple gold medals from the American Beer Festival and went on to skyrocket in popularity over the next few decades. For a time in the late 70s and early 80s, it became the best-selling ale in the United States, although it was never quite as popular as Budweiser, Coors, and others, which are all lagers.

However, that distinction was part of what made, and still makes, Genny Creamy special. In a nation of lager drinkers, it managed to create a unique ale with mass market appeal. Genesee did this by resurrecting one of the few original American styles of beer, the cream ale, and adding its own unique twists.

First, know that the label "cream ale" is a misnomer, because there is no cream in it. It got the name in the 19th century, when the beer was invented to help ale brewers who were making heavier beer compete with the light, crisp German lagers that were taking over the country. Brewers at the time used tricks like adding corn and rice, and brewing at lower temperatures, to produce ales that drank like lagers, and although the exact origins of the name are unclear, the style supposedly got dubbed "cream" as a way to advertise its smooth drinkability.

Cream ales had been around since the mid-18th century, but Genesee made it a mass market style when it introduced Genny Cream. Using ale yeast but brewed like a lager, the recipe is still a tightly guarded secret, but there are educated guesses from beer journalists that it's actually a mix of two beers, an older Genesee ale recipe called 12 Horse and Genesee's lighter lager. It does, in fact, seem to be brewed with corn, which gives it a sweeter flavor. The unique blend produces a lighter beer that has more flavor and complexity than your traditional crisp American lager.

After inspiring a wave of imitators due to its popularity, cream ale eventually retreated from mass market appeal, and Genesee, along with it. However, it has held on as a regionally popular beer in places like New York and Ohio, and the craft beer movement has rediscovered the style and started brewing new cream ales. So if you've tried one and liked it, it's worth tracking down Genesee Cream, the beer that made it an American mainstay.