Interestingly, Genesee promotes this ale as having "the flavor of an ale and the smoothness of a lager," and explicitly contrasts their cream ale with "standard American lagers." While the comparison works, that's not the angle I thought of when I drank the beer. I looked at it more as a light-bodied, easy-drinking ale that does not bring the flavor complexity of other, darker ales but is still easy-drinking. This beer is not very malty and there is basically no hop component. I found it slightly too sweet in a rich, syrupy way to pound back several. As one-off bottle I enjoyed it.
Genesee Cream Ale has 5.2% ABV and costs about $6.99 for a 6-pack, which puts it at a pretty competitive price point (both the Mendocino Eye of the Hawk ale and the Downtown Brown ale linked above are right there, among many others). My feelings are much more in line with the Beer Advocate reviews (overall: C+) than with the ratebeer reviews which seem absurdly low... 11 pts out of 100? 4 out of 100 for the style? That's too low - it isn't offensive, it's just not amazing. Get it if you want to try something different but still easy-drinking.
Blogger totally ate my comment. I was browsing the cream ales category on ratebeer and found their highest-rated cream ale, a team-up between Mikkeller and Revelation Cat. That is now on my beer list.
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