Genesee Rebounds in Rochester

Rochester Democrat & Chronicle:

If ever there was an example of old meets new, it's inside the 135-year-old Genesee Brewery.
In one part of the plant, employees are fermenting beer in giant vats that have been in use since the Summer of Love in the 1960s. And they're using yeast that has been growing since at least the repeal of Prohibition in 1933.
In another section, brewmasters are using cutting-edge equipment to capture and use every last drop of alcohol from the brewery's malt beverage process.
They start with something that looks like pancake batter: old, spent yeast in a boozy liquid. They finish with a clear, potent drink that puts the pop in the fruity-flavored malt beverages sold under the Seagram's Escapes label. The $1.1 million system, installed at the end of last year, not only saves money, but also is more environmentally friendly than pouring alcohol down the drain.
Mixing equal parts of tradition and innovation, North American Breweries has turned around a brewery that nearly went extinct, reclaimed customer loyalty to its heritage labels and started developing new kinds of beers and malt beverages. And all in five years and after an investment of more than $50 million...
Just a decade ago, the old High Falls Brewing Co. made most of its money making beers for other breweries; Genny and Genny Light were a small portion of the total. Today, officials say, North American Breweries brands account for about 80 percent of production.
Between Genesee products, the Dundee craft line, beers made for sister breweries Magic Hat and Pyramid, the Seagram's line of flavored malt beverages and a range of contract products, the brewery makes a total of 300 recipes. A small fraction is made at one time, though.
Even while losing some contract business, the company's annual volume grew from 1.1 million barrels in 2009 to nearly 2 million today. The Genny brands have doubled in volume, while the Seagram's products have tripled.

Genesee has always been one of my bargain pickups when I wanted to go cheap on beer.  But that may be changing:

One of the changes was a higher price for Genesee beer, so consumers wouldn't view it as a bottom-of-the-barrel brew.
"It's still priced very competitively," said Bresnahan. "but I don't think it's viewed as just a budget beer anymore."

Damn gentrification.