Someone recently said that it’s no surprise that megabreweries can make great beer. Or words to that effect anyway. No duh! The statement was made as if this were some sort of revelation, but those of us that have some experience with craft beer have known this for many, many decades now. You see, Genesee Salted Caramel Chocolate Porter may be a great craft beer from this Rochester, New York brewer, but it’s certainly not the first they’ve produced, and small regional and large megabrewers have been making quality craft beer well before the current craft beer craze.

Genesee has produced a credible pale ale, an authentic Oktoberfest, and a memorable Festive Ale under the Dundee Line. These beers have been around for about ten years now, so good craft beer is nothing new to Genesee. Really a regional brewer rather than a megabrewer, they are indeed owned by Cerveceria Costa Rica today, so are part of a semi-conglomerate since that company owns Labatt of Canada as well. Still, some regional megabrewers have a craft beer history that goes back even further. Latrobe Bavarian Black and Miller Reserve Velvet Stout date back into the mid-90s.

That point made, I firmly believe that Genesee Salted Caramel Chocolate Porter is the best beer I’ve ever tasted from Genesee. This beer is an entry in the brewery’s Pilot Batch series of specialty brews, clearly a stab at generating business in the craft beer market. Genesee says this about this particular brew:

This Salted Caramel Chocolate Porter was brewed in collaboration with Hedonist Artisan Chocolates of Rochester, NY. Hedonist’s hand-crafted chocolates are made in small batches and are meant to spread bliss to those who indulge in their pleasures. Their salted caramels were named "one of the 10 best small-batch chocolate-covered salted caramels” in the country by the New York Times.

I tried Genesee Salted Caramel Chocolate Porter on tap at Taco Mac in early January of 2016, but its sold in 4-packs of 12-ounce bottles as well. My full mug pour set me back $5.75, and the 4-packs run around $9.99. The beer has an alcohol content of 6.5% by volume.

My mug of Genesee Salted Caramel Chocolate Porter arrived a beautiful jet black color with a thick creamy espresso head. The beer was just so attractive that I had to look at it for a bit before taking a sip, drinking it in with the eyes instead of the lips. Taking a whiff, I got a beer very heavy on the caramel in the nose. A sip revealed the same in the palate, but the roasty chocolate definitely comes through to me, especially as the beer warms. The finish is dry roasty with more caramel, grassy hop aroma and a dry light bitterness. The salt comes out most in the finish too, though I got it in the initial sip to a lesser degree as well.

I was very impressed with this beer and the way the caramel and chocolate notes blended so nicely. Admittedly, this beer leans to the caramel, but I found it to be a very delicious treat. The price is high in bottles, and 6-packs would be more in line than 4-packs, so a half star demerit for that, but that said I would certainly buy it again.



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