Celebration of Cream Ales: Roc Brewing hosts event dedicated to Rochester classic

Coinciding with Roc's 11th birthday, 36 NYS breweries are participating in the cream ale event

Note: This newsletter is supported by Donnelly’s Public House, a wonderful canal-side establishment in the village of Fairport.

What better way to celebrate a birthday than with dozens of friends and Rochester’s iconic beer.

Roc Brewing, a pioneer of Rochester’s second wave of craft beer, is hosting its goofy, irreverent, and fun Celebration of Cream Ales. It all kicks off when the brewery, 56 S. Union St., opens at 11 a.m. Saturday.

This year’s event, the first since 2019, coincides with Roc’s 11th anniversary. It’s also the first time the event has been held in Roc’s expanded space, which now features food from the FLX Wienery.

Photo: A fresh pour of Roc Brewing’s latest collaboration with the Genesee Brew House, a miso ginger cream ale called Subtle is the Name of the Game. And as Roc head brewer Nick Mesrobian admitted, “The beer is shockingly balanced.” It’s very, very good, by the way.

The celebration, which started with 11 breweries in 2018 and jumped to 22 in 2019, took a two-year break with the pandemic. This year, it features more than 36 breweries. And because Roc only has 12 taps, the beers will be available in three-hour windows (or until they kick). Roc co-founder Chris Spinelli said the goal is to kick all the beers by 8 p.m. (And yes, Genny Cream Ale will be on tap all day.)

Here is a small sampling of the breweries you’ll see participating Saturday: Irondequoit, Resurgence, Mortalis, K2 Brothers, Nine Maidens, Other Half, Seven Story/Lock 32, Iron Tug, Naked Dove, Stoneyard, Heroes, Big aLICe, Rohrbach, Knucklehead, Prison City, and so many more. And the beers run the gamut from traditional takes on the style to ones with so many fruits and ingredients they don’t even fit on the Roc menu screens.

Collecting three dozen kegs from three dozen breweries could be a logistical nightmare, but Spinelli said the effort is worth it.

“It’s something crazy, but it’s so unique,” Spinelli said. “Everyone is really excited to participate. It’s pretty ridiculous that we convinced 40 breweries from across the state to make a cream ale at the same time.”

“That says a lot about the industry,” added Roc head brewer Nick Mesrobian. “People are like, ‘Fuck yeah, let’s do that. That is so stupid, I have to do this.’”

Why Cream Ales?

Mesrobian said the event is an ode to his adopted home town. (Like Spinelli, he’s an RIT graduate.)

“First of all, it’s a really easy beer to drink. It’s very crushable,” said Mesrobian, who has led Roc’s brewing operations for eight years. “It’s a Rochester’s beer. You could argue for the Rohrbach Scotch Ale. But Genny Cream Ale is a Rochester original. I just really like it. I’ve really embraced it.”

He is overjoyed to see people enjoying cream ales in the brewery again.

Brewmaster Clarence Geminn came up with Genesee’s original Cream Ale in 1960. Spinelli points to that history as a major reason why Rochester has embraced the beer, making an event like this possible.

“It’s still the gold standard,” Spinelli said. “There are very few American beer styles and the cream ale is the biggest of them. The world standard is made in our backyard. We talk about how important community is to us and this is just a way to celebrate our community with our friends.”

The second wave

When Roc Brewing opened in 2011, there were just three breweries in Monroe County — Genesee, Rohrbach, and the now shuttered CB Craft Brewers. And there was very little craft beer presence in the heart of Rochester.

(I refer to it as the second wave of Rochester beer. Three Heads, which originally contract brewed through CB’s, and Canandaigua’s Naked Dove Brewing were the other two pioneers. I still remember the first time I met Spinelli and brewery co-founder Jon Mervine when they were homebrewing in the kitchen of Spinelli’s parents.)

In its original form, with the tiny taproom and brewing system that was barely bigger than a nice homebrew set-up, Roc demonstrated folks were thirsty for quality local beer. Fast forward 11 years and Rochester now has 13 breweries and Monroe County boasts 25 breweries.

And through his membership on the board of the New York State Brewers Association, Spinelli has continued to do all he can to support breweries across the state.

Title sponsor: Donnelly’s Public House

This work is made possible through support from Donnelly’s Public House, 1 Water St. in Fairport. So make sure to get out to Fairport and support one of the best establishments in our area.

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