Captain Lawrence Brewing Company
Captain Lawrence Brewing Company is a 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. History. 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 UK. 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. In February of 2012, they opened a tasting room at the brewery in Elmsford. In 2014, they added a sour ale production wing to their brewery that they call the Fermento Funk Facility. They have nine oak foudres, five large rounds, and hundreds of wine barrels. The Elmsford brewery  expanded to 33,000 square feet and opened a full service restaurant in May of 2019. In October of 2020, Captain Lawrence opened the Mt Kisco Barrel House in Mount Kisco, NY. In addition to serving beer, this location is also used for barrel storage and blending of both beer and spirits.