This '60s-Born Cream Ale Is One Of The Hands Down Best Six Packs Under $10

Picking up a six-pack of beer for under $10 is an increasingly difficult task these days. Particularly if you are looking to wet your whistle with something more interesting than the run-of-the-mill macrobrewery swill, there aren't so many options left out there. For those from the northeastern U.S., however, there's one green-canned brew that not only offers up a unique easy-drinking character, but that also often carries a lower price than the bigger names. We're talking, of course, about Genesee Cream Ale.

The Genesee Brewing Company is based out of Rochester, New York, and has been producing beer since all the way back in 1878, making it one of the oldest continually operating breweries in the U.S. Genesee produces several different types of beer – Original, Light, Ice, and Honey Brown, for example — but it is the 1960 introduction to the entourage that so often steals the show. Genny Cream is not a fancy craft beer, as the name might make you think, but rather simply one of the best old-school regional beers that's still kicking.

This is also not the first cream ale that Genesee Brewing Company put out — several short-lived recipes had preceded it. This is, however, the one that the people chose. As soon as it was released, its popularity began to skyrocket. Over the following two decades, Genny Cream snagged a pair of gold medals at the Great American Beer Festival, and was even the nation's best-selling ale for a time.

Given the widespread popularity of Genesee Cream Ale, as well as the time of its introduction, it should already be clear that it is not some sort of esoteric craft beer like a lactose-rich milk stout. Despite the creamy name, this style of beer has absolutely nothing to do with dairy products. What defines a cream ale actually comes down to matters of yeast and temperature.

Cream ales are actually an American invention, one of the not-so-many styles of beer that were developed in the U.S. Particularly before the craft beer age, beers in the New World were mostly just the styles brought over from across the Atlantic. But around the same time that pilsners were conquering the palates of Europeans — the late 1800s — brewers in America were playing with making beers that used ale yeasts and adjuncts like corn along with the refrigeration techniques typical of lagers. The results were the very first cream ales.

Genny Cream obviously does not date from this period. Even the earlier versions from the Genesee Brewing Company didn't show up until around the 1940s. Instead, it is a descendent of those first brews, as well as the most prominent beer to carry the style into the future. The exact recipe isn't something lightly shared, but parts of it are clear in the taste. The cooler fermentation temperatures make Genny Cream nice and crisp, but the pronounced flavor of the ale yeast separates it from other easy-drinking beers.

An intriguing beer that strikes a perfect balance between drinkability, affordability, and character, Genesee Cream Ale is one worth hunting down on your next trip to the liquor store. There aren't too many six-packs under $10 anymore, and this one more than delivers on value.