ROCHESTER – You might want to renounce your fantasy football team (and if you didn’t draft Buffalo QB Josh Allen, you might already have). Instead, see if you can join in on this dream team at Genesee Brewery. 

The new Genesee Brewers Series gives each member of the Rochester mainstay’s brew team the fantasy job of handpicking each beer style that will be included in a new line of premium products.  

These beers are favorites of the team, but they are styles that aren’t often made at Genesee. These premium beers will be released twice a year in limited quantities. 

The heavy-duty Brewer Series Imperial Stout, with an 8% alcohol by volume, is first up – and appropriately enough, hitting store shelves just as fall temperatures turn frosty. The stout is a personal favorite of Genesee Brewmaster Matt James and showcases what the brewery can do. 

“We’re very proud of it,” James said. 

Available in four-packs of 16-ounce cans, the Imperial Stout is on store shelves now. But it took some time getting there. 

The stout recipe came about after several weeks of development followed by another two months of testing and fine-tuning, James said. 

The result is a bittersweet Imperial Stout made from high-quality pale, chocolate, black and caramel malts along with cacao nibs to create a bittersweet flavor and notes of chocolate, as the brew team describes it. 

Fermented with historical Genesee Ale yeast, the ingredients create an approachable, yet bold, rich, and flavorful aromatic brew, James said. 

Who doesn’t love chocolate when the weather dips? 

You may remember the vintage stained glass Genesee Beer signs and lights that helped shape the 1970s in Rochester. Maybe you still have one tucked away in a corner of the attic or basement. 

This beer will serve as a reminder of those glorious days when a beer sign was décor du jour. 

The graphic artists at Genesee went to town in designing the Imperial Stout can to look like those signs. Jaime Polisoto, brand director for Genesee, likes to say that Genesee brews a beer for everyone.  

In this case, they drew a beer for Genny stout fans. 

“Genny fans love the classics and also enjoy trying our new beer styles,” Polisato said. 

The Imperial Stout joins the brewery’s premium line that includes specialty favorites Spring Bock, Ruby Red Kolsch, Tropical Pineapple Kolsch, Cran Orange Kellerbier, and Oktoberfest. 

What’s next in the Genesee Brewers Series? Spring is not that far away, really, for the state oldest brewery. 

“This series is just the beginning,” James said.