15 Dec Lazarus Leviticus

Lazarus Leviticus

Lazarus Brewing Company

Austin, TX
Bourbon Barrel Aged Stout with Coffee
ABV: 8%
IBUs: ?
Packaging: 750ml Bottles, Hop Drop delivery to your door step

I’m stricken with catholic guilt, and I hope that you’ll let me confess to you.

My first confession is I seldom, if ever, have the discipline to age a beer. When I do, it’s never more than a year.

My second confession is I wish that weren’t so. Lazarus Leviticus is a perfect example of why. See, I’d love to sit on this beer, but I just couldn’t.

My third confession is, before I got this beer, I was unaware that Lazarus’ head brewer Matt Couch studied archaeology, philosophy, and he made wine before he ever got his first Mr. Beer kit.

That’s when he fell in love with beer.

That love would lead him to a job at Victory. Once he climbed his way up the ranks to brewing manager, it was time to settle in at the corner of East Sixth and Chicon (across the street from Whisler’s) as Lazarus Brewing Company’s Head Brewer.

From the garden to the gospel, Lazarus Brewing Company is the type of brewery that I can really sink my teeth into for so many reasons. Back when Harvey hit us, Chris was stuck in Austin. The freeways were closed, and while we were all starting the relief efforts, all he could do was sit on the sidelines watching the news. He stopped for a beer at Lazarus to kill time, and when he told them he was from Houston, they stuffed his jeep FULL of relief supplies. His baby boy was literally buried in supplies.

This is a brewery that lives out what it means to share life, and I’m super grateful that their beer is now available for delivery in the Houston area because they started off with a zero-distribution model. But I digress.

At the time of this writing, Lazarus Brewing is less than 2 years old. Lazarus was founded by a pastor, so they’re kinda big on Christmas.

Starting on Thursday 12/13, they’ve been doing a 12 days of Christmas filled with limited bottles, new beers on tap, merch, etc., and it all ends on Christmas Eve with an 11pm service. We were lucky enough to get our hands on the 3rd day of Christmas (Saturday 12/15) gift thanks to Hop Drop. It’s a bourbon barrel aged stout with coffee known as Lazarus Leviticus.

The shiny 750ml bottle of Lazarus Leviticus radiates elegance. Everything from the black wax coating to the fine, white, linen-textured paper and gold foil label makes Lazarus Leviticus feel like it belongs high on a throne. You won’t find this on a shelf anywhere, though.

It pours as beautifully and jet black as the bottle looks. There’s a super-loose light brown head that bails pretty quickly, like most barrel-aged beers.

Speaking of barrels, oak notes emerge from my glass like the pews of an old church. The whiskey heat and coffee notes are welcoming without being overpowering. There’s also a waft of vanilla that brings everything together sweetly without being totally dessert-like.

Lazarus Leviticus blessed me with a bouquet of flavors. Oak – not whiskey heat but airy wood flavor – is prevalent, and I love it. The service flow is followed by coffee and rich, roasty, fudge notes that linger like a good worship song, filling me up. Of course, the whiskey is there, but it’s not an overbearing heat that I expected.

It has a smoothness on the mouthfeel that makes it seem as though it’s been aged seventy times seven times. It’s surprisingly a little on the thin side for the ABV, but somehow the way everything coats my palette so eloquently sort of compensates for it. It’s very rich.

As of right now, you can find Lazarus Leviticus at Lazarus. That’s it. If you can’t make it over to Austin to visit Lazarus for a bottle, then hit up our brothers over at Hop Drop got you covered for delivery. Use code “BEERCHRONICLE” for 10% off your beer delivery. Only 500 were bottled, and there’s only 499 left, so hop to it if you’re interested. Also, since it’s in bottles, be careful not to expose them to the sunlight. Here are 4 lies you may have been told about skunked beer.