Style School: Cream Ale

explains how an American heirloom style began as a marketing creation of the Industrial Age—and where today’s more playful breweries have run with it.

ADD THE WORD “CREAM”

to a beer style, and it becomes wonderfully evocative—but in this case, that’s just the problem. It’s a mite too evocative, and cynics might argue it’s less a style than a marketing gimmick. Cream ales notably lack cream—or even, originally, the quality of creaminess. Looking back to its 19th-century origins, we see contemporary accounts describe it as a cheaper, easier way to enter the burgeoning market for lagers. The “cream” part just sounded good.

Ah, but styles do evolve, and if we follow the thread of this curious regional specialty, we find a beer that begins to come into its own in the 1960s and that may be entering a new phase of evolution—and finally delivering on the promise of the name.

Just Before and Just After Prohibition

Let’s hop back to the period before Prohibition, when cream ales were in their youth. In the American Handy Book of the Brewing, Malting and Auxiliary Trades, Robert Wahl and Max Henius in 1901 describe a range of lager-like ales that had cropped up to compete with the

German-style pilsners already dominating the market. “Cream, lively, or present use ale takes the place of English mild ale, and more recently the American ale brewers are equipping their plants with refrigerating machines to brew a beer—brilliant or sparkling ale—that combines the property of a lager beer and ale; i.e. a sparkling, brilliant beer with an ale taste and aroma.”

Ales are far faster to make than lagers and are therefore cheaper. Brewers who could make ales that satisfied lager customers would consequently make more money. Before refrigeration, it wasn’t easy to fast-track cold beer, but Wahl and Henius document how these “machines” made all that possible in an industrial setting. Just as they did with many lagers, brewers of the time used corn or sugar to make these ales “sparkling” with a light, sunny appearance. The “cream” word appears to have crept in as a way to make them sound more interesting (and it certainly evokes a tastier image than “present use ale”).

After Prohibition is when cream ales started to develop some character of their own. Writing in 1937, Wahl (now co-writing with his son) affirms that cream ales—the older terms were now out of use—were “quite lively, clear, and sparkling, and quite pale.” They could be produced in two to three weeks, were

After Prohibition is when cream ales started to develop some character of their own. Writing in 1937, Wahl affirms that cream ales were “quite lively, clear, and sparkling, and quite pale.” They could be produced in two to three weeks, were made fairly dry, but were strong—about 6.3 percent ABV.

made fairly dry, but were strong—about 6.3 percent ABV. That strength seems to be new, as is this fascinating comment: “Usually the finished ales are dry-hopped, that is, fresh hops of a good quality are added to the storage tank.” So still dry and sparkling, but now stronger and hoppier.

Genesee’s Foray into Cream

If you know cream ales today, you may know the one from Genesee Brewery of Rochester, New York—as archetypal to cream ale as Dupont is to saison.

Genesee Cream Ale, however, wasn’t the brewery’s first. In the 1940s, it brewed one called Light Cream Ale. It was not a success, though Genesee had reason to think it would be—cream ales were a regional specialty at the time. (Because of Genesee’s later, enduring success, that remains the case.) Three other Empire State breweries made cream ales—utica Club, Schaefer, and in Manhattan, Fidelio brewed one for Mcsorley’s. Fidelio’s was possibly the most well-known—and at 6.3 percent ABV, it may have been the beer mentioned by Wahl. Still, it was at best a niche style, losing out to ever-morepopular lager brands. Whatever Genesee’s “Light” version was, it appears lost to history. “I was with the brewery 42 years full time, and I never saw a formula for Light Cream Ale,” says Gary Geminn, Genesee’s brewmaster from 1978 to 2005.

By 1959, Genesee was looking to add a new product after discontinuing their on-again, off-again 12 Horse ale, and the idea for a new cream ale emerged. Clarence Geminn—gary’s father—was the brewmaster at the time, and he wanted to offer something else to fans of 12 Horse,

Three other Empire State breweries made cream ales—utica Club, Schaefer, and in Manhattan, Fidelio brewed one for Mcsorley’s. Fidelio’s was possibly the most well-known. Still, it was at best a niche style, losing out to ever-more-popular lager brands.