June 20th, 2010
By Kevin Burns
As the world is introduced to new technology, the craft beer industry is finding new ways to reach customers. A large number of craft breweries have established Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube pages and are using them to interact with the craft beer community.
One of the breweries who is embracing this new technological revolution is the Genesee Brewing Company. Genesee invited a number of craft beer writers to participate in a virtual tasting on Thursday June 15th 2010. This was the second tasting that Genesee has conducted.
The tasting was conducted online through Adobe Connect Pro and simultaneously via conference call. As I was driving home from work I was unable to participate online, but was able to participate in the conference call. The brewery had mailed each participating writer two bottles each of three different Dundee styles. Dundee Brewer Jim McDermott would then taste each beer and talk about each beer including the ingredients, what Dundee was trying to create and fielding all of our questions.
Genesse used this tasting to introdue Dundee’s newest three beers, their Summer Wheat Beer, Stout, and their Kolsch-Style Ale.
The first beer tasted was the Summer Wheat Beer. This wheat beer is 4.5% ABV and is brewed with 55% two row malt, 5%rye, and 40% wheat. This wheat beer is different then the original Dundee Wheat Beer that was available in the first mix pack. Jim said that the brewers wanted an American Wheat and decided that the brewers wanted to make some changes to the recipie and ended up with almost a completely different beer. The suggested pairing for this beer was a marinated chicken breast with beer, lemon, and herbs.
The second beer tasted was their Kolsch-Style Ale which checks in at 5.5% ABV The suggested food pairing here was any type of marinated brats or sausages. A great local pairing would be Rochester’s own Zweigel white hots, a regional brand of white sausages that have been my favorites since I first tasted them a few years ago.
The third beer tasted was their new Stout. A stout is an unusual beer for a brewery to include in their Summer mizxed pack, but this one worked just fine. It is a mild stout from the sweet or milk stout family and has a relatively low 5.9% ABV. It is brewed with 7 different malts, and there is a lighter, distrinct velvety mouthfeel that allows the beer to be enjoyed during the warmer months that it is available.
The first tasting was held on Thursday, March 25th 2010. Like the most recent tasting, I participated via phone despite losing cell service twice. The conference included beer writers Jack Cutin, Lew Bryson, Noah Davis, Christopher Null, Chris Carlsson, Steve Hodos, Rick Rouan, Julie Johnson, Jay Brooks, Peter LaFrance, Alan Moen, Ola Nilbrink, Greg Barbera, Steve Winegar, and Angel Campbell.
It was an honor to take part in this tasting with all of these writers and Jim McDermott lead a virtual tasting of three beers from his growing Dundee Ales and Lagers line. McDermott attended brewing school before spending 12 years in Rochester as a brewer at Rohrbach’s. He moved onto Genesee about a year and a half ago and has been in charge of brewing the the Dundee line.
Genesse introduced Dundee’s newest seasonal, Irish Red Lager as well as the brewery’s Pale Bock Lager and their India Pale Ale. Genesee has made the Dundee IPA the flagship beer of the Dundee line and customers can now look for the IPA both on draft and in six-packs.
