Captain
Lawrence Brewing will see your imperial IPA and raise you one.
Yes, a
triple India Pale Ale is in the works in the brewery’s pilot system. The guys
are slowly dry hopping the brew to get the maximum “hoppiness,” as owner Scott Vaccaro puts it, out of it. It’s
called Seeking Alpha—a nod to the “alpha” acids in the hops that give the ale
its trademark bitter flavor. The triple IPA should be available in the tasting
room in the next month or so.
“It’s an
all-around hops monster,” says Scott. “If it works out well, we may do a big
batch.”
The
Captain’s Reserve Imperial IPA, a double IPA, is one of the most popular beers in
the tasting room, so interest in the triple India Pale Ale should be, like the
hops content, even greater.
Also
bubbling out of the pilot system: Justin
Sturgess’s richly malty Baltic Porter; a new concoction from Chris Rome that is enhanced with pink
peppercorn dried berries and brewed in the German dark lager “dunkel” style;
and Ryan Kipp’s take on the IPA—featuring
Chinook hops and flavored with grapefruit peel and grapefruit juice for a blast
of citrusy flavor.
“We’re
definitely cranking out as much pilot beer as we can,” Scott says. “It just keeps
flowing.”
We
mentioned the intriguing Captain Lawrence-Still the One collaboration last
month, which has the brewery’s Freshchester Pale Ale distilled into a floral,
fruity whiskey right here in Westchester. It’ll be a few years before it’s
available—whiskeys of course take their sweet time to develop—but the initial
returns look promising. “The early opinion is, it’s a killer whiskey,” says
Scott. “[Distiller] Ed Tiege has
taken it to a few whiskey shows, and everyone tells him they think it will be
amazing.”
A couple
years in the charred oak barrels will only make it more inviting.
Scott is
recently back from upstate New York, hosting beer dinners in Buffalo and
Rochester, along with one at the NY Wine & Culinary Center in Canandaigua,
helping spread the word about Captain Lawrence to our upstate friends. “We
figured we’d go up, say hello, kiss some babies, and drink some beer,” he says.
With
spring finally acting like its old self, the patio is in full swing, as is the
bocce court that goes so nicely with a Kolsch, a Sun Block and other warmer
weather favorites. Look for the cover to come off the outdoor bar in the coming
weeks, eliminating those exhausting 50-foot walks into the tasting room.
Finally,
as you may have seen on News 12, the brewery got a heartfelt shout-out at the State
of the County address last week, as Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino singled out Captain
Lawrence—along with a bakery in Peekskill--as a great example of local entrepreneurial
spirit.
“If you want to understand economic
growth in Westchester, there is no better place to start than with beer and
cookies,” said Astorino. “What do beer and cookies have to do with economic
growth? They tell the story of two companies that are great at what they do,
could locate anywhere, but have chosen Westchester as home. They are Captain
Lawrence Brewing Company in Elmsford and Bake-Me-A-Wish in Peekskill...Today,
Westchester is the beneficiary of their hard work. I challenge anyone to come
up with a tastier beer or chocolate chip cookie.”
Scott,
in attendance at the County Courthouse in White Plains, was pleased—and
humbled—by the mention in front of Westchester’s movers and shakers.
“We’re
just making beer—we’re not saving babies,” Scott says with a laugh. “But if what
we do is making people happy, then we’re happy.”
--Michael
Malone (malone5a@yahoo.com)
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