Founders Lizard of Koz

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As a beer drinker, I absolutely love the holiday season.  Breweries from across the country seem to release some of their best beer around this time of the year. From old favorites, to new exciting beers, there is no shortage of great beers to try. What is not ideal is the impact this has on my wallet. It almost feels as soon as I find one exciting beer, I find out another one is just hitting shelves. For this week's review, I parted with 17 dollars and picked up the latest offering from Founders Brewing Company, Lizard of Koz.

For a huge fan of barrel aged beers from Founders, Lizard of Koz sounded very exciting. A bourbon barrel aged imperial stout with blueberries, vanilla and chocolate seemed like it was going to be an automatic 5/5. I actually got nervous that this blog would sound more like a commercial than a critique. As soon I got my first whiff of the aroma, I immediately knew this wasn't going to be the case. The aroma of Lizard of Koz is practically just chocolate & blueberry. The taste of Lizard of Koz is practically just chocolate & blueberry. These flavors are so dominant that nothing else really gets a chance to shine here. I had to keep looking for any presence of the barrel and if I did not let Lizard of Koz warm a bit, I would not have found it. There is just a little oak & bourbon on the finish which is nice, but there needed to be more. Enduring the sweetness of the chocolate & blueberries became extremely tiresome midway through the glass. If you are wondering how sweet this beer actually is, think hot chocolate packet mix sweetness with blueberry syrup on top of that. Once my glass was empty I was more concerned about getting a cavity than refilling my glass.

To me, Lizard of Koz is a huge miss from the makers of amazing barrel aged classics like KBS, CBS, Backwoods Bastard and Project Pam. I say “to me” because I genuinely believe someone else will really enjoy this beer. For people that have a “sweet tooth” this beer might be right up your alley. If you read my review above and thought that it sounds good, I would strongly encourage you to pick up a bottle. I promise I will be leaving the rest of them on the shelves.

Overall I would rate Lizard of Koz a 2/5. A surprisingly disappointing offering from an outstanding brewery.

Rating Scale:
1 - Repugnant and undrinkable
2 - Acceptable but forgettable
3 - Good, worth a purchase
4 - Excellent, a step above the norm
5 - Truly exceptional　

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Thanks for reading. Sláinte!