Erin Went Bragh
"Notes From
the Tasting Room" will check out what people are drinking, and what
they're thinking, at the Captain Lawrence Brewery each week.
Perhaps
you’re finally putting the last remnants of the St. Patrick’s Day
hangover beyond you. Perhaps you spent that impossibly sunny Saturday
celebrating mid-March madness by gulping green beer in packed pubs until
your face matched the color of your brewski, your plastic hat, your
Show Me Your Shamrocks t-shirt, your boxers.
Others
opted for a different route than the watering holes in Manhattan, White
Plains and anyplace else with a liquor license, popping into the
relative quiet of the Captain Lawrence tasting room instead. While the
music was boisterous, the Dropkick Murphys indeed singing loud and
singing proud, one was free to move about the room. There was hardly a
cheap plastic derby hat in sight, and the beer very definitely was not
green. In other words, if you were seeking to toast the Emerald Isle
with unruly behavior and tawdry tokenism, you were probably in the wrong
place.
Stephanie
Winkelmann and Will Castelli, the pierced and dreadlocked singer and
bassist, respectively, in a blues band that’s cool enough to not need a
name, were there to avoid the Mardi Bragh atmosphere, if you will,
elsewhere. The pair attends Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville. (Sarah
may have been a distant cousin of Captain Lawrence, though we are
currently awaiting confirmation on that.) It was actually the first St.
Patrick’s Day in the States for Winkelmann, a Brazilian. But she could
envision the scene down Manhattan way.
“The
St. Patrick’s places will be super crazy,” she said while sipping a
Liquid Gold. “You have to be able to get to the bartender as easy as
possible, without having to elbow people out of the way.”
Should
anyone have needed a bulky fullback to clear a path, there was the
substantial frame of Chris Poulopoulos, sampling with his wife Kim and a
couple from Albany, Tim Priest and Christine Conboy, the next barrel
over. Christine pondered the comedic potential of marrying Tim--“I can
tell people I married a Priest”--as she tasted a Family Meal. While the
Poulopoulouses (try saying that three times fast after a few samples of
Imperial IPA) got a taste of Irish culture at the White Plains parade
the week before, Kim was happy to avoid the boozy bacchanal. “I can’t
deal with all the drunk people,” she said. “I’d rather come here…where
there are classier drunk people.”
Chris
liked the fact that, once you fork over two bucks for a sample glass,
the tasting is free. Kim rolled her eyes when she heard him utter
“free.” “What he spends on growlers, growler cozies, etc.,” she said, as
Chris attempted to hide a growler stuffed in a cozy behind the barrel.
As
the clock neared 4, a group of Juniata College (PA) grads wrapped up a
tour of the brewery. While they were as decked out in St. Pat’s finery
as anyone in the building, they felt that seeing how the Captain
Lawrence is made trumped that little parade down on 5th
Avenue. “You can see a parade anywhere, anytime,” said Kyle Allen, who
lives in Stamford and wore a two-growler bandolier across his torso.
To
be fair, the New York City parade has been going on since 1762--or
about 225 years before Kyle and his pals were born--and is hardly just
any parade. Yet the Juniata four was unimpressed. “You can see a parade
on TV,” added Matt Lawton.
Susan
Peters did him one better: “You can watch the parade on your phone
while taking the tour,” she said to a chorus of laughter.
The laughs don’t come as easily for Rafael Marcial of New Rochelle and Anthony Gonzalez of the Bronx. Both served their country—our country—in Iraq, and listed a number of
afflictions--physical and psychological--they brought home, and carry
each day. For them, being jostled by a few million revelers isn’t really
an option anymore. They find the tasting room’s mellow vibe smoothes
the anxiety a bit. “Even a few hours here helps us relax,” said Marcial.
The
soldiers tasted the Imperial IPA with a few friends. Gonzalez said he
was enjoying the “scenery”--looking over either to the brewing silos, or
the attractive women across the room. He sported a green t-shirt and a
well earned smile. “I’m Irish for the day,” Gonzalez said.
Scores
of people were similarly Irish for the day, but it’s worth noting that
one can appreciate Irish lit, Irish wit, and excellent beer, throughout
the year.
--Michael Malone (malone5a@yahoo.com)
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