Captain Lawrence Recommendations

I think they still have Rosso. If that's your style pick up as many as you can afford up to the 6 bottle limit and a bottle of Hops n Roses.

 

Smoke From the Oak: Rum may still be there too.

 

Currently available at CL

Samples / Growlers / 12oz($)
All Prices Vary

• Pale Ale
• Imperial I.P.A
• Liquid Gold
• Kolsch
• Smoked Porter
• Sun Block
• Ginger Man Ale
• St. Vincents Quad
• 'Barn-Raiser' Triple IPA
• ALS Pale (Pilot Batch)
• Snickelfitz Pilsner (Pilot Batch)
6 Packs / Cases / Seasonal
All Prices Vary

• Kolsch
• Liquid Gold
• Pale Ale (Freshchester)
• Brown Ale
• Smoked Porter
• India Pale Ale
• Sun Block Wheat Ale
• Hops & Roses Sour Ale
• Rosso e Marrone Sour Ale
• Golden Delicious
• St. Vincents Dubbel
• Xtra Gold
Smoke From the Oak Bottle Series:
$20 per Bottle
• Rum Barreled Imperial Smoked Porter

 

Barn raiser and the ALS Pale

 

I find their sours to be extremely expensive. For sessioning, Sun Block is really damn good. Smoked Porter is atrocious. Brown Bird is nice, but not this time of year. Imperial IPA is really awesome too. Total hit or miss brewery for me

 

I personally think Freschester and Reserve Imperial are really exceptional. Highly recommend them since you can get those fresh. Have yet to try their sours.

 

Not directly related to the OP's topic but does anyone else feel like the quality/pricing of Captain Lawrence has really fallen off a cliff ever since they decided to move to the new brewery? Sure, the IIPA is still pretty good but everything else to come out of there, save for maybe 1 or 2 limited sour offerings (BS Gold, BS Sour Cherry come to mind) has been really really disappointing, especially considering how expensive it is.

 

I'm not sure the CL QPR ever was all that great. While they make some killer limited releases, a good portion of their everyday stuff is, well, everyday (at best). And at a rough estimate, their prices are in the top quartile of craft 6-packs.

That said, I give them a lot of credit for Sunblock - that's been the surprise beer of the year for me. They knocked that one out of the park (in my opinion).

 

I may have to try that Sunblock then. Otherwise, I guess you're right. They were never THAT great overall. But they were killing it with their limited release sours for a while. Now that that's all but gone, I guess at least personally, I'm seeing them for what they really are... another middle-of-the-road NY brewery.

 

Their craft beer in six packs are consistently some of the best values on shelves, don't know what you pay but they avg. 9.50 a six around here. Sun Block is quite good, their bottled English Pale is tasty, their IPA is okay, Smoked Porter is tasty, Brown Bird is meh. They still release Golden Delicious and the price has gone down, though still expensive. And this batch of Rosso is drinking as well, for its age, as any past release of it. At the brewery they constantly experiment with test batch after test batch, and sell it reasonably in growlers. Don't know what folks want or expect, they are not Cantillon, this isn't Belgium, and Scott doesn't have pick of breweries to choose lambic to blend. I would take a CL sour over anything I have tasted from Allagash, Cascade or Upland. And Scott's Imperial Smoked Porter might be the finest of that style made anywhere in the world.

 

And THIS is why they say different strokes for different folks. I disagree with your statements about the taste of almost every CL beer you've listed here. But that's why so many breweries are successful right?

 

Ha, I was going to post a nearly identical response. I certainly respect your opinion Dave, but I think you and I are in firm disagreement about most of these (with the exception of their sour beers, which is what I was referring to when I mentioned their "killer limited releases").

Just to clarify, I don't think they are a bad brewery, just somewhat unremarkable while charging premium prices.

 

Dave, you know you're my buddy, but that's just lunacy.

That said, I have a bunch of CL to trade you if you're interested

 

Well, other than their sours, I don't think I gave praise to anything besides Imperial Smoked Porter. Just so we are clear, it is your opinion that Imperial Smoked Porter is average, or worse? Really? Or have you not had it?

That 9.50 a six pack is a premium price? Really? Gotta shop where you shop then. And since I mentioned I thought that the sixpack lineup varied from tasty to meh, hardly high praise, your opinion is that they all are terrible? I mean this is what you and Jim must believe for you and I to be in total disagreement.

Cascade makes a decent sour, with the same yeast taste to every one of them I've tried. Gotten to the point I pass on pours, and will never buy again. They all, to me, even have a similar fruity taste to them, I mean, might as well have one of theirs as any of the others. Allagash makes a very good sour, I rate them delicious, but give me a Rosso or a CdC or even a few of the Barrel Selects I enjoyed. Upland too is great, but they have a lot of meh beers too.

And yeah a difference in opinion is why there are so many different flavors and styles.

 

Upland's fruit lambics all taste similar (I'm guessing due to the house yeast strain) and Cascade's all taste pretty similar also. However, I think both of their offerings are on par with CL Rosso, CdC, etc. That being said, Barrel Select Mother Barrel and Black were both not very good IMO and far worse than anything I've ever had from Upland or Cascade.

Taking it a step further, I gotta agree with sandman on one point. Allagash's limited sours are far, far better than most things CL has every put out (with the exception of Flaming Fury). As an example I thought FV13 and Coolship Red and Cerise were better than any of the Captain's sours. Though, Allagash itself is about the same price point as CL.

 

Some of the even more limited sours/wilds Allagash bring to things like the BA festivals in Boston have been outstanding as well. They usually are only available there or fests in general, but things like Ghoulschip, Little Big Beer, Mattina Rossa, My Brother Darryl, and Victor Francenstein have all been great.

Respect your Elderberries is one of the best American wilds I've had.

For the record, I like CL's sours quite a bit, as well as the Imperial Smoked Porter. Personally I would rank their sours above Upland's, on par with Cascade's special beers like Noyaux, Vlad, and Sang series, and below most of Allagash's coolship/one off wilds. I loved Flaming Fury, cDc, and Barrel Select 1/Gold.

 

do you not like smoked beers? it's pretty good for the style

 

Back to your regularly scheduled OP... I'm a big fan of the Golden Delicious and the Imperial IPA.