It’s
been just a year since the first bottles of Captain Lawrence India Pale Ale
came rolling down the line, and the beer is already the No. 2 seller, ahead of
mainstays such as Captain’s Kolsch and Liquid Gold. The brewery is rewarding
the IPA’s rookie of the year status with its own 12-pack—the boxes are in, they
look very cool, and fans of the hoppy, hearty brew can find it in Whole Foods,
DeCicco’s and select grocery stores in mid February.
Captain
Lawrence has sold 16.9 ounce bottles of the Captain’s Reserve Imperial IPA in
12-packs, but this is the first traditional 12-pack in the brewery’s history. “The
IPA has been picking up steam, so it’s a natural one for a pack that allows people
to bring more than six home at a time,” says Scott Vaccaro.
(Captain
Lawrence’s top seller remains the flagship, Freshchester Pale Ale.)
Fans of
hoppy beers have a blessedly wide array of choices available to them these days,
and Scott says the Captain Lawrence IPA stands out because of its unique blend
of Yakima Valley hops, including the star performers Centennial and Citra that
give it that uniquely piney, citrusy vibe. “All brewers are like chefs,
experimenting in the kitchen,” he says. “Not everyone puts together the same
combination, and we think we hit on something good.”
The
creamy, chocolatey Knifey Moloko milk stout, which garnered the most votes in
the 12-beer Hop Bowl last week, shows that not everyone is going for the hoppy
beers these days. Scott says he loves beertender Rob Catalano’s concoction—“the beautiful coffee, chocolate and
malty flavors went perfectly together,” he notes—but admits he thought Matt Levy’s double IPA RIPA’s Revenge
would bag the most votes among the dozen small-batch offerings in the running.
The
Knifey Moloko—the “droogs” in Anthony Burgess’s trippy A Clockwork Orange novel quaffed Knifey Molokos before taking part
in a bit of the ultraviolence--has earned a return engagement, coming back in a
seven-barrel batch. “It may be perfect for St. Patrick’s Day,” says Scott.
Speaking
of dark, very dark beers, another hit out of the experimental brewhouse,
Scott’s own Six N’ Change black IPA, has also earned a second act. Scott says
it has “graduated” from the small-batch pilot system to the production plant
and a 40-barrel batch is in the works. “It was a big hit in the tasting room,”
says Scott, “so we thought, why not put it on a bigger stage?”
Local
consumers of craft beer can expect lots of experimental brews out of 444 Saw
Mill River Road this year. The pilot system that brought you the King Zythos saison,
Schwarzer Hund black lager, Limerance weiss, Chico pilsner, Young Wolfington
ale, and many other colorfully named, inventively brewed beers, will aim to
crank out no fewer than 60 one of a kind, tasting room-only beers in 2014.
“I
challenged (brew house manager) Scott
Tobin to produce 60 this year,” says Scott. “He’s gonna make it happen.”
The “Notes From the Tasting Room” book is available at the brewery and on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Notes-Captain-Lawrence-Tasting-Room/dp/0985632844/
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