The brewery looms over the river gorge like a Transylvanian castle, its high, mustard-colored walls and maze of ominous piping giving no sign of the activities that take place within. For over a century it stood there, implacable and obtuse. Rochester’s brewery where no one was really invited in.

“It’s been like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” says Patrick Magallanes, Vice President of Marketing for the High Falls Brewing Company, referring to the culture of privacy preferred by the brewery’s previous owners, the Wehle Family.

Indeed, that closed-shop nature fed some of the rumors that circulated around the brewery for the past quarter century, as Rochesterians perceived a diminishing presence of the once iconic local beers: Genesee, Genny Light, and Genesee Cream Ale. According to Magallanes, the rumor still persists that High Falls beer is made with Genesee river water, whereas in reality, like much of the city’s water, it comes from Hemlock Lake.

That culture is changing. The brewery is taking steps to involve the Rochester community and reconnect residents with Rochester’s beer.

It begins with a concert series at the brewery, the first of which features Blues favorites Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks. Magallanes, who lived and attended college in Munich, Germany, is also planning an Oktoberfest, brewery tours, and perhaps a licensed, High-Falls-branded pub in the area.

All this, however, would be window dressing without a renewed commitment to High Falls’ beers. Magallanes has plans in place for the complete line of brands currently produced by the brewery.

These strategies are evident from the new bottles that adorn his office. They carry one name boldly: Dundee. Gone is the mythical J.W. Dundee from labels past. High Falls’ is relaunching the brand with a complete image makeover that should better connect the range of beers with customers.

Magallanes also plans to strengthen brand perception for Genesee and Genny Light. He notes that, outside of the craft beer segment, the only brands showing growth are in the sub premium category, and sees an opportunity to reposition these Western New York stalwarts for rediscovery by the consumers of these brands.

To that end, Magallanes’ team scoured their image files for iconic imagery from the past, combining classic artwork with modern taglines to create a cool retro vibe. Locally, bar goers will be invited to “tag Genny,” submitting their own taglines with a chance to win prizes and having their suggestions used in future ads.

Cream Ale, too, will see a bit of a repositioning. “There are only two true American beers, “ says Magallanes. ” One is Anchor Steam (California Common Ale); the other is cream ale. This is a true heartland beer.”

Finally, Magallanes plans to strengthen the brewery’s position by continuing to contract brew beers such as Hook & Ladder and Sam Adams, and through the importation and management of relatively unknown, but long-established foreign brands such as New Zealand’s Steinlager, Imperial from Costa Rica, and Thwaite’s from the UK.

It doesn’t make much sense to liken a beer like Genesee Cream Ale or Genny Light to small-batch craft beer, but, apples compared to apples, we’ll take High Falls beer over just about anything in their respective categories. Face it, Rochester, our brewery makes damn good beer, and we urge people to have a swig and remind themselves of that.

The view from Magallanes’ rooftop office is a panorama of old industrial Rochester. His desk looks out upon half the city.

It’ll be great to finally have a chance to see in.

In other beers
Custom Brewcrafters’ new brewery is open. The huge new production and retail facility, built from the ground up, offers increased tasting and retail facilities in a winery-style setting, as well as plenty of space for expansion. The brewery is at 300 Village Square Boulevard in Honeoye Falls. Grab more info at www.custombrewcrafters.com.

The Rohrbach Brewing Company has made a deal with Famous Dave’s, caterers for Paetec Park. Rohrbach Bluebeary Ale and Highland Lager will be available throughout the stadium this season.

Bruce is a certified beer judge and commercial brewer. Mark owns a laptop and likes beer. For more on beer, check out the beercraft blog, updated regularly, at http:://www.beercraftsite.com. Send your questions, suggestions, or comments to beercraft@rochester.rr.com.

High Falls’ Vice President of Marketing, Patrick Magallanes, talked to me at length about what the brewery is doing with its brands and in Rochester. Turns out my personal speculation about where the brewery is headed was off the mark. Instead of abandoning their core brands, they’re regrouping and relaunching.

We’ll see how the relaunch goes. Our home market is a pretty tough crowd, and High Falls will have to sucessfully overcome years of negativity toward their brands if this is going to work. Still, there are some very good ideas on the table, and I hope the beer made at High Falls gets a fair shake, both in Rochester and wherever it’s sold.

-Mark

Today, they made a deal with the Rohrbach Brewing company that will put 10 Rohrbach taps into Paetec Park, marking the first time the Rochester brewer’s beer is available at this venue.

Famous Dave’s and Rhinos Management have bent over backwards to give Rochester fans the things they love. It’s up to us fans to reciprocate and show our team the level of love and passion we used to.

I will. I’ve got my season tickets. I’ll be in section 102. In my Rhinos Jersey.

Sipping on local beer.

-Mark

Buy the first beercraft T-shirt now. 

This might be more of an experiment than anything else. I figured I’m better at writing about beer than most things, so brains (mine) have been wracked trying to figure out a way to make a buck or two off this rather voluminous body of work. Google AdSense doesn’t MakeSense at this point, and I really don’t want to piss any readers off with cheesy text ads that would generate a solid 20 cents per month in my pocket.  People deserve to get something of value for their money.

With this in mind, I commissioned published children’s book author and illustrator Kevin Serwacki to design a t-shirt graphic that could describe the wearer’s love for American craft beer. If they made a Schoolhouse Rock cartoon about beer, I’d like to think this piece would be the title screen.

Like everyone else, I’m using Cafepress to market the shirt for now. In the future, it would be nice to hook up with a local printer, but I have no idea about the volume of business it’ll generate. At least with Cafepress, you know you’ll get a quality shirt with dependable shipping, instead of having to rely on me dragging my ass to Kinko’s every time one of you places an order.

So support Beercraft and wear your love of American beer proudly! You won’t look like a dork. I swear!

-Mark

Anyway. Come on down to Monty’s Korner Thursday at 7:30pm for beer tasting and pizza.

-Mark

Sour flavors imparted by brettanomyces and other microflora have been a characteristic of numerous Belgian beers, many of which aren’t the least bit subtle about it.  Some Belgian sour beers are wonderful; Rodenbach Grand Cru is one of my all-time favorites, with a soft, fruity palate that subsumes into a tangy, tart burst on the back of the tongue, leaving the drinker eager for another sip. The subtle sourness is the hook that pulls the glass back to the lips. Other sour Belgian beers, like the much-ballyhooed Cantillon Lambics, put one more in the mind of salad dressing. You could color Easter eggs with that stuff.

Which brings me to my concern. People rave about Cantillon, and many will tell you how they consider it one of the true treasures of the beer world, even as their faces contort into grotesque puckers with every vinious sip. I really think many people fall into mass-mentality with Cantillon, worshipping it because other beer geeks do, like graphic designers worship Mac computers.

So now American brewers are breaking out the Brett like never before. Over the next year or so, we’re gonna be seeing some sour-ass beers from some pretty respected breweries. Will the beer intelligentsia get behind them? Will folks new to beer fall right into the party line, the way they did with extremely hopped beers? Will there be a subculture of beer enthusiasts that will snottily dismiss any beer not super sour as “bland crap” the way there was with extremely hopped beers?

I’m not calling out the breweries; those guys have proven they can brew excellent beers in any style. I’m just hoping for the best from beer lovers. I’m hoping we can try the new sour stuff, enjoy what we enjoy, and not turn the experimentation of the brewers into a full-blown fad just for conformity’s sake.  There are too many beers out there for that, and we’d only be shortchanging ourselves.

-Mark

It’s funny. You tell an American that you’ll be drinking beer before the hour of noon and they start planning your intervention, whereas in Europe, responsible consumption of what is essentially a foodstuff is part of the routine and joy of daily life. The traditional Bavarian meal of Weisswurst and Hefeweizen is consumed before noon as a matter of course and pride, born of a time when the highly perishable sausage needed to be served quickly.

Some traditions are worth attending to. Zwei Weiss, bitte, und Ein Fransiskaner vom Fass! 

Second thought 

 I dunno, I kinda feel like I overly harshed the High Falls Brewery in my last post over what basically amounts to an ad. They do a lot for the community and I choose their beer over any other American light lager. Like many regional breweries, the company has had a rough go of it over the past 30 years or so, and it’s not fair to fault them for positioning themselves to remain viable.

I guess it just seems, sometimes, that our hometown brewery has kind of abandoned us as small fry, and the brewery-consumer relationship is so different than in other cities where regional breweries are headquartered. For example, go to southern PA and see how passionate people are about Yuengling. The beer is everywhere and residents are proud of it, even though in composition it’s not wildly different from Genny. In Rochester, we don’t have that same sort of pride in our big brewer. High Falls doesn’t culturally dominate that part of our dining table.

Maybe this ad is the first step in a broader campaign to reach out to the town that built the company through the purchase of its beers. If so, I’ll happily drink my words. Well see.

-Mark

High Falls ran a full-page advertisement in this week’s issue of City Newspaper (and, I’m told, the Democrat and Chronicle as well) that purports to be a personal letter from President and CEO Norman Snyder to the citizens of Rochester. Now, most people wouldn’t read 7 long paragraphs of 6-point type. I did, and it pissed me off. Over the course of the letter ‘Snyder’ offers platitudes about how much he loves it here, patronizes us with his own simplification of economics, attempts to convince us that his is a craft brewery, and reprimands us for not buying locally enough.

“The Brewery’s Payroll, which is in excess of $18 million, makes a significant contribution to the local economy,” ‘Snyder’ writes. “Our employees pay taxes, purchase automobiles, clothing, groceries and other goods from local companies.” Well, duh. What’s the underlying message here? Is it that, if we don’t buy enough Genny Light, the brewery will be forced to reduce that potential pool of local economic contributors? It kinda reminds me of how PBS used to threaten to pull Sesame Street off the air if they didn’t receive enough viewer contributions.

That’s just hamfisted copy. The more inscencing thing for me is the complete hypocrisy of what the letter goes on to state:

“When you buy the beer in the blue can, you are supporting an economy whose currency is now on par with our own. When you buy the beer in the red can, you are helping the big get bigger. Every time you buy the beer in the silver or gold can, you are not buying the local beer or supporting local jobs.

The next time you order a beer, please consider that some of the best beer brewed in this country is brewed right here in Rochester, New York. Take Pride in Rochester! Take Pride in your local brewery! Take Pride in our products! But please remember to always be responsible.”

Well, Norm, I’ll take that final piece of advice. I don’t think High Falls Brands, excuse me, High Falls Brewing Company, is our brewery anymore. Not when I’m sitting at my hometown baseball stadium, within sight of your building, and the Rohrbach Brewing Company has ten times the retail presence as High Falls. Not when it’s ten times easier to get the beers of Honeoye Falls’ Custom Brewcrafters than a bottle of good ol’ Genesee Lager. Not when you try to pass of Honey Brown as a ‘craft beer.’ Not when you toss aside your locally born and bred Head Brewer, the guy who won a bunch of the awards you alluded to earlier in your ‘personal plea.’

As a local consumer who should ‘always be responsible,’ I will make sure to support local brewery employees and local jobs. I will not buy the beer in the red can. I will not buy the beer in the blue can, or the silver.

I’ll buy the beer that doesn’t come in a can at all.

-Mark

Craft beer is no longer just pale ale and porter. These days, it’s the creativity of the brewer, as well as the skill of the brewing, that’s gaining critical and customer acclaim for independent breweries. This experimental, alchemical urge is certainly one of the factors that makes the Ithaca Beer Company one of the most respected New York State craft breweries.

Long known for pale ale, and the light, sun-tinged Apricot Wheat beer, the company’s product portfolio is growing to include bolder, stronger, and more whimsical beers, and a general departure from the six-pack mentality. It’s paying off big time. Last weekend at the 2008 Tap NY Festival, New York State’s premier beer event, Ithaca Beer won the F.X. Matt memorial Cup for best craft brewery in the state.

“I can’t say we were expecting it,” says Lead Brewer Jeff O’Neil. “There are a lot of great breweries in New York, and to win this award is humbling.”

O’Neil, a former Binghamton native who moved to San Francisco, suggests that his West Coast experience helps him push the envelope with the beers he brews professionally today.  Together with former Dogfish Head Brewer Mike Smith, the Ithaca boys are introducing the kind of extra-hoppy, alcoholically powerful beers for which the brewers of Oregon, Washington State and Northern California have become renowned. “My sense is that the market has matured in the northeast, O’Neil explains. “People are more accepting of hoppy IPAs.”  He goes on to say that American brewers no longer need to copy the beers of Old Europe to excel.

Indeed, Excelling has been O’Neil’s intention for a while. His and Smith’s “Excelsior” series, a limited-release line of iconoclastic beers packaged in wine bottles, echoes the appreciation of connoisseurs as well as the motto of the state in which they’re brewed.  Ithaca Ten, one of the Excelsior series, is the beer that won the brewery first place at Tap NY.

Ten, named to commemorate the brewery’s tenth anniversary is a huge double IPA made with a complex blend of malts and enough American hops to kill a vampire.” He describes the flavor as thick and creamy, slightly oily from the hops, edgy from the smoke. You can almost hear him grin over the phone as he settles on the word.

“Hedonistic,” he drawls.

To some, Ten is the archetype of the double IPA style, but a greater number of people will find its aggressive bitterness a challenge. That, however, is ultimately what separates dedicated craft brewing from national-level corporate brewing. Where large conglomerates must find a common flavor profile to please millions of people, O’Neil and Smith are able to uncompromisingly brew the beer they want and rely on a smaller, dedicated base of hopheads to make it a success. The Excelsior series beers cost more, but deliver a level of pleasure for which aficionados are happy to pay.

In addition, Ithaca’s Flower Power IPA won the silver at the festival, and reached the Final Four in the Great Lakes Brewing News’ NCAA tournament-themed nationwide IPA challenge. Cascazilla, a hop-heavy dark red ale, explodes with flavor in every sip. And Ithaca Apricot Wheat, the brewery’s best seller, appeals to everyone through it’s light mouthfeel and touch of summery fruit.

O’Neil endeavors to use New York State ingredients whenever possible. The brewery has belonged to the New York Farm Bureau since its inception, and buys hops from Seneca Castle’s Pedersen Farms, the only commercial produce remaining in this former epicenter of hop growing. “We also have a tart beer coming out, finished with New York State Grapes, O’Neil reveals.

O’Neil and the Ithaca Beer Company will continue to aim for, and quite possibly redefine, excellence in the future. For a modern craft brewery in a market rapidly gaining sophistication, there’s really no other way. “My peers are making such good beer that no one can really mail it in.”

As a guy who brews professionally because his homebrewing hobby got out of control, it’s doubtful O’Neil will ever settle for second best.

Bruce is a certified beer judge and commercial brewer. Mark owns a laptop and likes beer. For more on beer, check out the beercraft blog, updated regularly, at http:://www.beercraftsite.com. Send your questions, suggestions, or comments to beercraft@rochester.rr.com.