The History of Genesee Beer
The History of
Genesee Beer
The Genesee Beer we know today was created soon after the brewery reopened following 13 years of Prohibition. Genesee owner Louis Wehle had been preparing to reopen for several years by the time the 21st Amendment came into effect (he knew America couldn’t be dry forever). He sold his Rochester-based bakery business in 1929 and used the $1.3 million dollars he made to refurbish old equipment, purchase new equipment, hire sales staff and maintenance workers and, perhaps most important of all, find a new brewmaster.
Enter Charles Fromm, former brewmaster of American Brewing Company of Rochester. Like Wehle, Fromm had dedicated much of his life to the art of brewing; both men graduated from New York City’s National Brewing Academy. Fromm’s first order of business was to create a flagship for the company based on its original offering. This would turn out to be the Genesee Beer we enjoy today. Wehle spoke highly of Fromm, and trusted him with the business.
"It was now necessary to secure the services of a competent Brewmaster. After careful consideration I asked Charles Fromm to take over.
...
"It was going to be a terrific job to get the old Genesee to look like the new Genesee, and Charlie was the man for the undertaking. Hours meant nothing to him. He was a Brewmaster at heart, knew every phase of his business, and was a man who could be relied upon to do a first-class job. Old Genesee for new Genesee needed men like that."
- Louis A. Wehle,
This Was My Life (1959)
When Prohibition began, there were 1,500 breweries operating in the country. By the time it ended, there were fewer than 100. With hard work and creativity, Wehle employed every tactic he could think of to revive the Genesee Brewery, succeeding where many failed in a post-Prohibition America. Charles Fromm enjoyed great success as Genesee brewmaster. He was responsible for an early version of a cream ale that never really caught on, 12 Horse Ale, and Old Stratford Ale, which utilized an entirely different brewing system called the Burton Union. Fromm worked as the brewmaster until his retirement in 1959.
