(Elmsford, NY) – The man behind the Captain Lawrence Brewing blog, Michael Malone, gave us a sneak peek at today’s blog. More below…

—

Amidst this brutal winter weather, is it too early to start thinking about St. Patrick’s Day? Not at Captain Lawrence. The brewery has a handful of special brews in the works that offer a tip of the tam o’shanter to the patron saint of beer, including a dry Irish stout and a red IPA. Producers of world-class craft brew right here in Westchester, Captain Lawrence wouldn’t go near that seasonal cliché known as green beer, right?

Not so fast.

“Scott Tobin, our resident Irish guy, told me he wanted to make green beer,” says Scott Vaccaro, Captain Lawrence founder. “I said, I’m not adding food coloring to beer.”

They found a compromise by adding the green nutritional supplement known as spirulina to the mix. (For what it’s worth, the Aztecs swore by spirulina back in the 16th Century. But you probably knew that.) The end result, in a knowing nod to the bubbly green potable that rankles the beer purists in mid-March every year, is a beer called Gimmicky Green Ale. Look for it in the tasting room as St. Pat’s approaches. And remember—spirulina is a lot healthier than food coloring.

New stuff aside, a few old favorites are back in the tasting room after a hiatus. The Ginger Man Ale, a Belgian-styled amber brewed with ginger in conjunction with the beloved Manhattan craft brew cathedral The Ginger Man, is back. So is the Xtra Gold American Tripel Ale, which has not been seen around the tasting room in several months. Offering a distinctive mix of Belgian yeast strain and Amarillo hops, it’s in bottles and on draft in the tasting room.

And on the heels of producing its first ever India Pale Ale, brewed with aromatic Yakima hops, Captain Lawrence is taking on another first in the brewery’s seven year history: A lager. Justin Sturges is piloting that project; made with German yeast, there’s no name yet for his lager creation.