They
came from far away, on bicycles, and they came from so close they could walk.
They sipped a new beer that makes clever use of a fat, round, semi-sweet fruit,
and they sampled some tried and true brews as well. While Captain Lawrence’s
digs will never be as pedestrian-friendly as the old Pleasantville spot, a
foursome from Elmsford did, in fact, hoof it to the brewery on a gorgeous
Sunday.
“It’s
such a nice day, and we figured we’d bring the dog along,” says Alyssa Jacobs of Elmsford, nodding at
the sweet-dispositioned Chihuahua-Shi Tzu mix huddled under the picnic table.
Her husband
Irv is digging the new pilot brew
known as Grapefruit Pail--Ryan Kipp’s American pale ale brewed with grapefruits and dry
hopped with whole leaf cascade hops and grapefruit peels. “A little bit of
citrus, a little bit of bitterness,” he says with a smile.
Their
pals Eleanor and Bob Liggio, also of Elmsford, are
contemplating what to fill their growler with. The Liggios are partial to pale
ales—Eleanor says they fell in love with Anchor Steam while honeymooning in San
Francisco, so much so that they returned to the Bay Area years later to quaff
more of it.
When
it comes to beer, Bob is a bit picky; he says the Captain Lawrence selections—and
American beer in general—is too cold, and wants more hops in his Sun Block
wheat beer. But he’s happy to be spending his afternoon sipping a locally crafted
brew in the sun. “It’s great to have a microbrewery around,” he says.
Pulling
up to the patio on a convoy of bicycles is a Meetup.com group that set out from
Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx not quite two hours before. Most of the six did
not know each other earlier in the day. Gina
Friedlander of Forest Hills, Jose
Herrero of Manhattan and Donnelly
Shah of Brooklyn, among the others, are unwinding with some well earned beverages.
A few sips into her Captain’s Reserve Imperial IPA, Gina asks what the “9 ABV” on
the menu next to the beer means. When she finds out, her eyes go wide as, well,
grapefruits. “We’re not carrying you back,” warns Michael Wasserman.
The
group of new friends laughs as they wait for their Village Dog hot dogs. “It’s
a great way to meet new people and do things you probably wouldn’t do on your
own,” says Donnelly.
A
20-mile bike ride may be a bit ambitious for Elizabeth Vera and her friends. See, Elizabeth was married the day
before at Lyndhurst—Jay Gould’s spectacular old mansion in Tarrytown--and is
unwinding with her sorority sisters from NC State. “I’m runnin’ on fumes,” she
admits from behind a pair of dark shades.
The
wedding was, by all accounts, a smash. Talk about moves like Jagger--Elizabeth’s
dad jumped on stage with the band to belt out “Satisfaction”, and her uncle
took over the piano. “We had a Partridge Family thing going on,” she says.
And
this was all before dinner. “Best wedding ever,” says Ali Marshall of Sarasota.
Elizabeth
is from Wisconsin, so working a brewery visit into her wedding weekend was a
given. The Kolsch seems to have perked her
up slightly; she eyes the menu for her next selection. “I’m real interested in
the Grapefruit Pail,” she says.
Speaking
of old college pals, Justin Pucila of
Pound Ridge and Matt Brody of
Manhattan are friends from their SUNY Purchase days. They were camping at Ward Pound
Ridge Reservation the night before with more Purchase pals—drinking PBRs
because that’s what they drank in college.
Justin’s
still waiting for his taste buds to wake up as he sips the Grapefruit Pail.
“All the beers here are great, but I’m not getting grapefruit out of this one,”
he says. “My taste buds are still full of campfire smoke.”
Staring
at the skyline of hulking silver fermenters in the back of the brewery, Justin
and Matt were discussing how many beers are in a keg, and how many kegs are in a
fermenter. “We gave up,” says Matt.
Back
on the patio, the biker gang is resting their legs, the wedding party is
resting their vocal chords, and the Jacobs-Liggio foursome is planning their journey
home. “It’s a
nice walk,” says Alyssa. “The hard part is the walk back.”
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