“I don’t pick favorites, and it changes all the time,” says Sean Lawson. He’s a hard one to pin down for a 6-pack of favorite or inspirational beers, but the more we talk, the more I sense that it’s not indecisiveness as much as immediacy that drives him. Lawson is a fan of beer—all beer, just about every style—and can find the right time and place for anything from Cantillon to Miller High Life.
There’s something genuine about Lawson’s enthusiasm for such a range of beers. It’s not a calculated hipsterism or a carefully crafted narrative as much as it is a stream of consciousness download marked by an honest appreciation for the talent employed by his contemporaries. As the old saw goes, the best beer is the one in your hand right now, and for Lawson, the best beers are the ones burning brightest in his short-term memory. “[My favorites] very much depend on where I am, what I’m doing, who I’m with. So each week, each month, each year, the 6-pack would look really different,” he says.
Our conversation took place in Nashville, Tennessee, at the annual Craft Brewers Conference, and the location, friends, and experiences were top of mind for Lawson as he built his mental checklist. While you’ll find something different in his fridge depending on the week or month, these are, in his words, “The first six beers that come to mind.”