Lawson's Finest Liquids Breaks Ground in Waitsfield 

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• courtesy of Lawson's
• Sean Lawson

In April 2016, Lawson's Finest Liquids announced that it would move from Sean and Karen Lawson's home in Warren to a larger, more visitor-friendly space in Waitsfield. Now, after more than a year of planning and preparation, the Lawsons will close on the property at 155 Carroll Road later this week. On Friday, August 25, they'll break ground on their new brewery, tasting room and retail space — and throw a party there to celebrate.

"It's gonna be a beautiful space," Sean told Seven Days on Monday, adding that through a yearlong design collaboration with Austin Design of Brattleboro and Colrain, Mass., plans for the building have only gotten more exciting. "The design has picked up a little more wow factor," he said.

While the Waitsfield brewery will serve as a home base for all operations, including administration, production, packaging, distribution and retail sales, Lawson's will continue brewing its popular Sip of Sunshine and Super Session IPAs at Connecticut's Two Roads Brewing Company, as it has since 2014. "That relationship has really been a home run for us," Lawson said. "We've put so much time into perfecting the recipe and the process down there, and we can't re-create that here. And people are still drinking [those beers] faster than we can make [them]."

Friday's event will feature live music, local food trucks and, of course, Lawson's pours, along with the brewery's annual Maple Tripple Ale bottle release. Heavy construction on the project will begin next Monday, August 28. If all goes according to plan, the new brewery will open to the public in autumn 2018.