Sean Lawson is originally from the New Jersey shore area, where he developed a love of the outdoors at an early age. Family ties brought Sean to Lake Morey in Vermont many summers as a child, where he got “hooked” on the Green Mountains. Sean moved to Vermont in 1988 to pursue studies at the University of Vermont (UVM) and discovered a love of both beer and homebrewing. He graduated in 1992 with a Bachelor’s degree in Ecology and Environmental Studies.
Sean’s post-graduate work focused on Forestry and Outdoor Education, with positions as a Park Naturalist at Vermont’s State Parks, a Program Coordinator for the Vermont Monitoring Cooperative forest health project, a wildlife educator with Keeping Track and research work with the University of Vermont as well as The U.S. Forest Service. In 1996, Sean founded the Naturalist Program at Mad River Glen, an outdoor education program that he still leads today, featuring seasonal and full moon guided snowshoe treks, where he met the love of his life Karen! Sean returned to UVM in 1997 for graduate school and research on Vermont’s high elevation spruce-fir forests, graduating in 1999 with a Master’s degree in Forestry.
In 2008, after much encouragement from family and friends and accolades for the quality of his homebrew, Sean launched Lawson’s Finest Liquids as a hobby-scale side business in a humble outbuilding next to the Lawson’s family house in Warren, VT. Lawson’s Finest quickly became a highly-sought after Vermont craft beer, sparking an expansion in 2011 at the original location, a contract brewing arrangement in 2014 with Two Roads (launching our #1 flagship – Sip of Sunshine IPA) and culminating in the opening of a new production brewery, taproom, and retail store in Waitsfield, VT in October of 2018.
Sean and Karen have two daughters, ages 16 and 20. Sean loves to attend his daughter’s basketball games, skiing, hiking, treks through the woods, live music (especially the VT boys – Phish!), travel with his wife Karen and dining out. Of course, a love of great beer pervades daily life and whenever possible, travels often include collaborations and stops at other breweries.