Captain Lawrence Brewer Opens Current Spirits Distillery

Current Spirits’ tasting room has an on-purpose speakeasy-inspired look

If you ask Scott Vaccaro what he’s drinking these days, don’t be surprised if beer isn’t in the top three. The owner and head brewer of Captain Lawrence Brewing Co. will tell you that he’s been tasting gin, vodka, and whiskey on a regular basis. The reason for that comes on the heels of the unveiling of Captain Lawrence’s brand-new beer hall that debuted in May 2019. Something visitors may have noticed in the revamped digs was the name “Current Spirits” and papered up windows blocking the view inside what was to be and what is now a distillery and a tasting room.

Current Spirits, ever so quietly, is open for business and is here to fulfill your spirit tasting desires.

For Vaccaro, opening a distillery was always the plan, then the perfect storm arose to make it a reality. When the space next door that previously housed a wholesale florist became available, they jumped on it, first with the beer hall addition, then with the attached Current Spirits facility with its own separate entrance.

Kyran Tompkins (left) and Scott Vaccaro (right)

“It’s a natural progression since distilled beer is whiskey,” Vaccaro says. “Beer is fun to create, and I’ve always had a fascination with sours and barrel-aged beers. And I do love whiskey. I’ve always had my eye on creating spirits, I wanted a new adventure, and we had the opportunity.”

Handling the mad science in the distillery is Kyran Tompkins, who Vaccaro met through common friends in the industry. Their mutual affiliation through StilltheOne Distillery in Port Chester helped connect the two. “Scott reached out, I saw the equipment and immediately wanted in,” Tompkins recalls. “I’ve been a brewer and a distiller, and these are the most precise stills I’ve seen. Out of the nine or 10 places I’ve been at, these are by far the nicest stills. And I have a license to experiment here.”

So far, Current Spirits’ lineup of 80-90 proof libations includes vodka, straight rye, bourbon, and two gins, one of which is barrel-rested.

If you’re wondering how a new distillery gets whiskey and bourbon, it was made at StilltheOne. “We’ve been working with them [StilltheOne] for 5-6 years, so we were fortunate to source three-year-old bourbon and rye from them,” Vaccaro says. “Everything we made with them and here [Current Spirits] uses 100% New York grown grains.”

In every spirit without rye, Tompkins mentioned that the vodka and gin should be smooth. “It should be subtle notes all together,” he says. “Our gin has a total of 11 herbs and botanicals; juniper, coriander, lemon, vanilla, bergamot, cumin, and cardamom are some. It’s designed to be fragrant. All the taste is smell, and we don’t add any sugar. A good gin should have one cohesive flow.”

No, the distillery doesn’t make food, but the brewery does! And you’re welcome to bring it into Current Spirits. If it’s a snack you seek, the tasting room does sell jerky and spiced nuts.

Aside from their lineup of five spirits, there’s a lot more on the horizon. The “current” in Current Spirits means modern, innovative, and not always being married to the old ways of crafting liquor.

“We’re gonna have fun!” Vaccaro says. “Kyran is working on all kinds of bitters, an amaro, and flavored spirits. I told him to experiment, to make whatever he wants, and if it doesn’t work, I told him he has to drink it all himself.”

In addition to different amari and bitters, expect canned cocktails in the spring or summer, plus a five-year old barrel strength bourbon that’ll come in around 115 proof. Vaccaro also mentioned that they expect to hire a mixologist, so when Current Spirits’ tasting room hours wrap up for the day, it can reopen at 8 p.m. as a cocktail bar.

Currently, visitors eager to experience a tasting at Current Spirits can do so from 2 – 8 on Fridays and from noon – 6 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Tastes of all five spirits are a steal at $2 and if you buy a bottle, they’ll subtract the tasting price off the cost. If you’re just looking for a two-ounce neat or on the rocks pour, you can do that, too.

375 Clearbrook Avenue (next door to Captain Lawrence Brewing Co.); Elmsford
https://currentspirits.com/