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Mount Pleasant Brewery to Decamp to Elmsford

Mount Pleasant beer lovers will soon have to drive just a little bit farther to get to their local brewery. Scott Vaccaro and the Captain Lawrence Brewing Company staff will be moving to a larger facility in Elmsford later this year.

This means they will leave their current Pleasantville location, but not until the 18,250 square foot site at 444 Saw Mill River Road is fully operational.

"Nothing here is going to be sold off until we're fully operational," said Randy Shull, Captain Lawrence's chief IT/computer engineer and "Jack of all trades," according to their website. "So, there will be no gap in beer."

Additionally, the new 1,500 square foot tasting room is four times larger, which will accommodate this wholesale brewery's growing retail business.

This past Thanksgiving, Vaccaro and crew added Thursdays from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm to their tasting room hours, which already included Fridays from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm and Saturdays from noon to 6:00 pm.

"Just like we do around the holiday season - Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years - we were opening up that extra day to take some of the pressure off of Fridays," Shull said. "Then we just decided to give it a shot and keep it going."

On the Captain Lawrence website, Vaccaro, who couldn't be reached for comment, wrote, "It was always my dream, from the time I brewed my first batch of home brew, to open a brewery and bring fresh and exciting beers to the place I grew up; Westchester County."

The extended tasting room hours, which allow retail customers to sample, then fill their growler - a 64 ounce plastic jug - with whichever style of beer on tap they fancy, are still on a trial basis. But Shull said they have been garnering a great turnout since its inception.

Captain Lawrence leaves 99 Castleton St. after five and a half years, along with the bustling Pleasantville crowds who filled the cozy, bar-side tasting room. Shull acknowledged they will be losing the walking-distance proximity to the train.

"That's something we're not going to have at the new place, but I think we're going to be more easily accessible because we'll have the Sprain, Saw Mill and 287," he said. "Everyone's going to benefit because there will be more Captain Lawrence, not just on tap, but also on the shelves."

The new location also offers an additional 5000 square feet for expansion and the five vessel, 40 barrel automated brew house will allow them to operate at five times the capacity of their current location.

"The new site has been designed to accommodate our growing needs as a brewery and as a destination for people wanting to taste fresh beer at its source," according the Captain Lawrence website.

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