The owners of Lawson’s Finest, the small Warren beer brewery that is moving to Waitsfield, spent their summer doing their due diligence to purchase the Carroll Road property in Waitsfield where they plan to build a larger brewery.
Company owners and founders Sean and Karen Lawson thrilled the craft beer world this spring when they announced their plans to move to Waitsfield and build a brewery with a tasting room and retail sales.
Their plan was to spend the summer doing due diligence on the former Valley Rent-All property they will be purchasing and then get started on permitting, in hopes of beginning construction in the spring of 2017 and opening the following year.
LEACH FIELDS
“During the summer we discovered some contamination due to the historical use of the property and site. There were petroleum and heavy metals from the mechanical bays that had floor drains that went to leach fields in the front of the buildings,” Lawson said.
“Once we discovered that, Jimmy Kohl, owner of the property, reported it to the Department of Environmental Conservation and that began a process that’s taken several months to put in place a work plan. The contamination is minor and the solution requires excavating the soil, removing some and removing the tank,” he explained.
The Department of Environmental Conservation calls such locations “brownfield sites.” The Lawsons applied for a state brownfield program that would limit their liability should any further contamination left on the site from its historical uses be discovered.
PERMITTING PROCESS
That brownfield issue had to get resolved before they could move forward with engineering and permitting and Lawson said they are relieved to be moving forward again. He anticipates beginning the state and local permitting process after the first of the year. He will be seeking a conditional use permit from the town, an Agency of Natural Resources permit and an Act 250 permit amendment.
“I’d like a nod at Jimmy for taking responsibility for what we discovered on site and taking steps to get it taken care of,” Lawson added.
Lawson will be using Waitsfield’s municipal water for the brewery and the move to Waitsfield is made possible by the new Winter Park decentralized wastewater system that was completed this fall.
LONGTIME HOMEBREWER
The Lawsons will be moving their craft beer making from 280 square feet near their home in Warren to the 8,000-square-foot space in Waitsfield. Currently they produce 400 barrels a year – or about 50 cases and 20 five-gallon kegs a week – in their 7 bbl brewery. Their new facility will be a 30 bbl brewery.
Lawson, a longtime homebrewer, founded Lawson’s Finest Liquids eight years ago. He is also the director of Mad River Glen’s naturalist program, a title he still holds. Since its inception, his beers have captured the fancy of beer lovers near and far, creating a cultlike following to go with the many awards and honors Lawson’s Finest has received.
Over the past several years, Lawson’s Finest has been partnering with the Mad River Food Hub in Waitsfield for distribution as well as dry and refrigerated storage. They have also been working with Two Roads Brewery in Connecticut where they produce Sip of Sunshine.
