Captain Lawrence Celebrates 10 Years With 10 Different Brews

Captain Lawrence has started releasing new beers every month and new labels for all its products, as it gears up to throw itself a big tenth birthday party in May. But the new label launch and beer release are just some of the recent changes that show just how much fruit that decade has brought to bear for the owner, Westchester native Scott Vaccaro.

“We sold 50,000 kegs last year, compared to 1,200 in our first year in business when it was just me and one other person,” Vaccaro says. Their first keg was sold at Lucy’s in Pleasantville.

Since their first 1,200-keg year, Captain Lawrence moved to a larger location in Elmsford in December, 2011, and started distributing to more regions of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. The response was so great, that they have now expanded distribution to Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maryland and Washington DC. They also just started canning their first product, the Effortless IPA with grapefruit, a 12 ounce can of hoppy refreshment.

With all of these developments going on, Captain Lawrence is also rolling out a limited-edition, sour beer from their Hudson Valley Harvest series every month. In February, beer lovers were treated to Hudson Valley Harvest Strawberry sour, which was aged with 800 pounds of fresh, locally grown strawberries from Borchert Orchards in Marlboro, New York over the last year.

“It is a tart, tangy and easy drinking brew,” says Vaccaro.

This month, they are selling an apricot sour, made with a ton of apricots from the same orchard. Next month will bring a cherry beer, also aged with fresh, local fruit. As the barrels are emptied, the Captain Lawrence team is refilling them and preparing for next year’s batch. The Hudson Valley beers are available in 375 ml bottles, with a limited supply on draft in the tasting room. Speaking of the tasting room, Vaccaro expects to open a kitchen and offer a limited menu of a few simple beer-friendly items at the tasting room this April.

While all this is exciting news for us local Captain Lawrence fans, those spread out across the Northeast will start noticing the company’s changes too with the new label roll out.

“It is something that had to be done and it took us a whole year to do it.” They’ve created a new line of colorful, eye-catching labels, which are much different from what they started with, a simple clean “Captain Lawrence Brewing Company.”

“We wanted the labels to be really representative of the beer,” says Vaccaro.

While most of the new labels represent their respective contents, two will appeal to the brewery’s first fans: local county residents. The Kolsch has an illustration of the Croton Dam, and the aptly named Frestchester Pale Ale features the Tappan Zee Bridge and a commuter train.

“I’m excited about the labels. They are looking pretty sharp,” Vaccaro says.

You can see it all at the brewery’s ten-year anniversary celebration on May 14, featuring beer, food, and music. Tickets are $40. You can buy a ticket here.