Captain Lawrence Brewing Company is an award-winning craft brewery located in Elmsford, New York. The brewery is owned and run by head brewer Scott Vaccaro. Vaccaro, a homebrewer since 1995, trained in brewing science at UC Davis.
Many of Captain Lawrence's beers are strongly influenced by traditional Belgian ale styles, although often with an American twist. Barrel-aging and ales with sourness or flavors contributed by bacteria and wild yeasts such as Brettanomyces, are also part of their repertoire.
Like many small breweries, Captain Lawrence seeks to be environmentally sensitive, including donating its spent grain to a local farmer for use as cattle feed.
Their beers are fermented in stainless steel cylindro-conical vessels.
The brewery takes its name from Captain Lawrence Drive in South Salem, New York, the road on which Vaccaro's childhood home is located. The street is named after Samuel Lawrence (1733-1796), a captain in the Westchester County Militia, 3rd Regiment, during the American Revolution.
The facility in Elmsford is open for tastings, visits, and retail sales Wednesday through Friday, 4-8pm, Saturdays, noon - 6pm and Sundays noon - 5pm. Growlers are available for take-out. Half kegs and mini kegs (5 gal.) can be purchased by arrangement via the brewery's website.
Vaccaro brewed his first beer before he was legally allowed to drink. As a teenager in high school he saw a friend's father brewing beer at home, asked if he could participate, and was told it would be allowed with parental permission.
After enrolling at Villanova University to study accounting, Vaccaro realized his real desire was to become a professional brewer. He transferred to UC Davis and studied fermentation science. He interned at Adnams Brewery in the U.K. Following graduation he worked at Sierra Nevada and the short-lived Colorado Brewery in Danbury, Connecticut.
Captain Lawrence Brewing Company was founded in 2006. Its first brewery was located on Castleton Street in Pleasantville, New York and had a 20-barrel system. After five years, needing more space to operate a bottling line and a larger system to increase capacity, the brewery was relocated to Elmsford, New York, approximately five miles from the original brewery. The new facility has a 40-barrel brewing system and more fermentation capacity. There is also a small seven-barrel system for experimental and specialty batches. The new brewery began operation in 2011.
Awards and recognitions
2009
Rosso e Marrone - Gold Medal, American-Style Sour Ale, Great American Beer Festival2008
Xtra Gold - Gold Medal, American-Belgo Style Ale, Great American Beer FestivalGolden Delicious - Bronze Medal, Wood and Barrel-Aged Strong Beer, Great American Beer Festival2007
Beeradvocate magazine ranked Captain Lawrence #5 among its "Top 50 American Breweries"Cuvée De Castleton - Gold Medal in the American Sour Ale category at the Great American Beer FestivalCaptain's Reserve Double IPA - Silver Medal, TAP New York2006
Captain Lawrence - won the Matthew Vassar Brewer's Cup, which recognizes the best Craft Beer Brewery in the Hudson ValleyCaptain’s Reserve Double IPA - Gold Medal for Best Craft Beer in New York State, and a Gold Medal for Best Beer in the Hudson ValleyLiquid Gold - Bronze Medal for Best Beer in the Hudson ValleyFreshchester Pale Ale (5.6% ABV)Liquid Gold (6.5% ABV) - Belgian style Blonde Ale, made with Belgian ale yeast and corianderBrown Bird Ale (4.8% ABV) - American Brown AleSmoked Porter (8.0% ABV) - American porter made with German smoked maltCaptain’s Reserve Double IPA (9.0% ABV) - version of the contemporary American "double" or extra strong India Pale Ale styleCaptain's Kölsch (5.5% ABV) - Kölsch, first brewed in Spring 2010Seasonal and specialty offerings
Frost Monster (11.0% ABV) - malty, intense ale, available aged in rum barrelsXtra Gold (10.0% ABV) - strong golden ale in the Belgian Abbey Tripel style, but flavored with American hop varieties including AmarilloGolden Delicious (10.0%+ ABV) - American Tripel, aged in oak apple brandy barrelsImperial Smoked Porter (12.0% ABV) - strong porter made with German smoked maltSmoke from the Oak (ABV not listed) - strong smoked porter that has been released in several different barrel-aged versionsNor'easter Winter Warmer (11.0% ABV) - strong dark ale in the Belgian tradition, flavored with elderberriesSt. Vincent's Dubbel (8.0% ABV) - richly-flavored malty brown ale in the Belgian Abbey Dubbel styleCuvée De Castleton (8.0% ABV) - American "wild ale", fermented with Muscat grapes and BrettanomycesRosso e Marrone (ABV not listed) - American sour ale, fermented with grapes and aged in oak barrels; "Rosso e Marrone" is Italian for "Red and Brown"; BeerAdvocate lists this beer as a Flanders Oud BruinBirra DeCicco (6.0% ABV) - described on the label as a "malt beverage brewed with chestnut honey and jam"; this limited release was a collaboration with DeCicco Food Market, a grocery in Ardsley, New York that has an extensive selection of craft and microbrew beersPumpkin Ale (5.5% ABV) - amber ale, brewed with pumpkin and pumpkin spicesEspresso Stout - stout, brewed with espresso coffeeFive Years Later (10.0% ABV) - brewed to celebrate the brewery's fifth anniversary, a strong almost-black ale brewed with five varieties of malt and five different hopsWinter Rye (5.0% ABV) - a one-time beer brewed using organic rye and crystal malt from Valley Malting Co in Massachusetts; brewed with a German yeast strain and lightly dry hopped with US GoldingsKatchkie Harvest Ale - collaboration between Captain Lawrence Brewery, Executive Chef Robb Garceau of Great Performances and Katchkie Farm; Captain Lawrence Brewery's first farm-to-table beer offering