The quest for Genny cream ale

Some people associate their childhood memories of going to see grandma with things like fresh baked cookies and getting their cheeks pinched, not me i think of genesee cream ale. If you live in upstate Ohio or any where in Pennsylvania and you've ever drank a beer your familiar with Genesee cream ale. If you dont live there then you've probably never heard of it but its the cream of the crop when it comes to cheap beer in that area. Every year we went to grandma's house a ten hour drive with me in the back of the station wagon with a ton of room to move around on the way there. On the way back i was squished between cases of genesee cream ale as my dad stockpiled his yearly stash. I slept with my head on a case of brew and my feet on another like some sort of drunken kiddy bootlegger, i grew to hate that beer over the years.

Every year that beer squished me and my hatred for that green can grew until the day of my fondest memory of visiting my grandmother .The time she let me have my first beer!!!! I was eleven or twelve years old at the time and it all started with her letting me have a sip .From there it went to me bugging the hell out of my mother until i got my very own can. I remember my grandmother saying " just go ahead and give it to him , its one beer it wont hurt, we drank it as babies in the old country". Holding that green glistening can in my hand was better then Christmas for me , i couldn't believe it i had my very own can of beer! The can even had one of those old pull tops which made it even seem more mysterious to me , more adult. Holding that frosty green can in my hand made me an adult that can now made me a man! As i remember it the taste was like cream soda, with each sip of brew the years of hatred towards it washed away. I was in heaven with my first beer, funny how all my fondest memories involve beer isnt it, i guess those memories are what made me what i am today. Maybe i can be a good father and recreate the same memory's for my kids.

The next year we visited my grand mother the first words out of my mouth where "dont we need to go to the state store and get some genesee cream ale?". A whole year had passed since my first sip so i was jonesing for another, it was all i could think about. Grandma was more then willing to give me the beer i wanted so much and now thinking back it was probably her way of getting me to fall asleep. A few years later grandma passed away so no more summer trips to PA. As the years went by the thought of that first beer and grandma faded to the back of my mind.

I hadnt thought about genesee cream ale or grandma in years until a coworker brought up his first memory of his first brew with his dad. So now its been over 20 years since ive had any genesee cream ale and my thirst grows every day. Luckily the same coworker that brought it up just happens to have been traveling to upstate Ohio this weekend to visit family. I sent him with a 20 spot stapled to a printout of the genesee label with the words "buy me" written on it. Hopefully tomorrow evening ill once again have my genny cream ale in my hands. Friday i got to thinking about the brew so bad i went out to the local liquor/party store in hopes of finding any cream ale at all. The only thing they had where little kings cream ale so i bought em, an eight pack of 7 oz bottles for around five bucks. Not a bad price but i wondered why the small seven ounce bottles? After the first sip i could tell why the small sized bottles. Has anyone ever tried piss mixed with beer? I would say little kings come real close to that combo, hopefully my memory of genny cream ale isnt that tainted.