Fat Lizard is a Finnish

craft brewery Craft beer is beer manufactured by craft breweries, which typically produce smaller amounts of beer than larger "macro" breweries and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as emphasising enthusiasm, ne ...

founded in

Espoo Espoo (, ; ) is a city in Finland. It is located to the west of the capital, Helsinki, in southern Uusimaa. The population is approximately . It is the most populous Municipalities of Finland, municipality in Finland. Espoo is part of the Helsi ...

in 2014. The CEO of the brewery is Jussi Arposalo. The brewery started operating in

Kivenlahti Espoonlahti ( Finnish) or Esboviken ( Swedish) (literally ''The Bay of Espoo'' or ''Espoo Bay'') is one of the five major urban areas of Espoo, a city in Finland. It lies along the south-western coast of Espoo, bounded to the west by the bay of t ...

with an annual production of 30,000 litres. Nowadays the premises of the brewery are in

Otaniemi Otaniemi (Finnish language, Finnish), or Otnäs (Swedish language, Swedish), is a district of Espoo, Finland. It is located near the border with Helsinki, the Capital (political), capital of Finland. Otaniemi is located on the southern shore of ...

.Insinööritaitoa ja intohimoa
, ''steveco.fi'' 28 June 2019. Steveco. Accessed on 8 October 2020. In 2020, the brewery estimated its annual production to exceed 500,000 litres. In 2021 over 1 million liters of beer was produced by the brewery.🎉MILJOONA LITRAA! 🎉
3 December 2021. Facebook. Accessed on 5 February 2022.

History

The company founders Heikki Ylinen and Tuomas Koskipää started brewing beer in 2013 in Koskipää's garage in Kattilalaakso, Espoo using a 20-litre vat. After having reached a repeatable process, the brewery moved to Kivenlahti in late 2014. In Kivenlahti, the founders built a 300-litre brewing machine from old industrial kitchen parts, which could brew 30,000 litres of beer per year. The first beer to be sold in restaurants was brewed in 2015. In 2017, the brewery moved to its current premises in Otaniemi. There the company acquired a 6000-litre brewing machine, which reached a yearly production of 300,000 litres.Fat Lizard Brewing Company on brändi, joka on luotu somessa
, ''elomedia.elo.fi'' 19 October 2017. Keskinäinen Työeläkevakuutusyhtiö Elo. Accessed on 8 October 2020. The Otaniemi premises allowed the company to expand to canned beer sold in retail in addition to tap beer sold in restaurants. From 2014 to 2020 the CEO of the brewery was Heikki Ylinen and from 2021 to 2022 Eero Kukko.Salminen, Esa
Heikki Ylinen vaihtoi menestyvän koodarin uran olueen – kohtaaminen lapsuudenystävän kanssa oli käänteentekevä
''duunitori.fi'' 18 April 2020. Duunitori Oy. Accessed on 8 October 2020.

Brand

Fat Lizard has been built consciously as a recognisable brand. According to founder Ylinen "the first beer is bought because of the brand, the next ones because of the taste". The company puts effort to be visible in

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

, where it tries to evoke a laid-back feeling. The company sponsors two

beach volley Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two to four players each on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side o ...

playing sisters from the

Helsinki University of Technology Helsinki University of Technology (TKK; ; , HUT in international usage) was a technical university in Finland. It was located in Otaniemi, Espoo in the Helsinki metropolitan area, and it was one of the three universities from which the modern d ...

, Team Fat Lizard Metsäkoivu/Metsäkoivu.

Products

The company started focusing on American-style beers "because American-style beers should be consumed fresh. Shipped here they are never fresh".Espoossakin pannaan nyt lähiolutta – ensi-ilta perjantaina
''HS.fi'' 5 February 2015. Sanoma Media Finland. Accessed on 8 October 2020. According to Fat Lizard, the brewery brews beers its employees themselves want to drink. The company focuses on technical skill and knowledge of the equipment and process in brewing beer.Oluemme
, Fat Lizard Brewing Company Oy. Accessed on 8 October 2020. Some of the beers are seasonal products and some are available all year round. The company produces an annual batch of Glims beer made from hops from Espoo, which is typically sold out in a flash.

Awards

Suomen Paras Olut

Fat Lizard Track Day IPA 5.5% won the "''Suomen Paras Olut''" ("Finland's Best Beer") award in the category "American-style light and middle-dark ale" in 2016. Fat Lizard Ankle Slapper Surf Ale 5.2% won the same category in 2019.

Functions

Brewery shop

Since 2018, the brewery has upheld a brewery shop for buying beer to take away. After exceeding an annual production of 500,000 litres, the Finnish alcohol law prohibits the company from selling beers over 5.5% to take away.

Taproom

The company opened a taproom adjacent to its brewery at the end of 2020 to allow for consuming stronger products in-house. After the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

caused delays to the initial founding schedule of the taproom, the company has a Biergarten beer terrace on its courtyard which opened in summer 2020. The company plans on focusing on selling its own beers in the taproom. The company also plans on importing such special beers from the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

that its employees themselves are interested in tasting.

Partner restaurants

The company has three partner restaurants, one in Espoo and two smaller ones in Helsinki. Since 2018, restaurant Fat Lizard Otaniemi has been functioning a short walk away from the brewery. In 2020, the company opened a second restaurant in

Herttoniemi Herttoniemi () is an East Helsinki Subdivisions of Helsinki#Neighbourhoods, neighbourhood and a suburb of Helsinki, the Finland, Finnish capital. Geography Located about east of the city centre, Herttoniemi can be reached by the Helsinki Metro i ...

. The company opened a third restaurant in central

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

in December 2020.

Van theft

In summer 2020, a van full of beer was stolen from the company courtyard. The chairman of the board Tuomas Koskipää stopped the theft by driving his 1977

Chevrolet Corvette The Chevrolet Corvette is a line of American two-door, two-seater sports cars manufactured and marketed by General Motors under the Chevrolet marque since 1953. Throughout eight generations, indicated sequentially as C1 to C8, the Corvette is not ...

in front of the van. The incident attracted considerable media attention. Later the company honoured the incident with a new beer named ''Vigilante Mission New England IPA'' as a playful reference to popular culture. The name is probably an allusion to the ''

Grand Theft Auto ''Grand Theft Auto'' (''GTA'') is an action-adventure video game series created by David Jones and Mike Dailly. Later titles were developed under the oversight of brothers Dan and Sam Houser, Leslie Benzies and Aaron Garbut. It is prima ...

'' missions where the player plays a law enforcement officer chasing criminals.VIGILANTE MISSION NEW ENGLAND IPA
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201017213043/https://fatlizard.beer/beers/vigilante-mission-new-england-ipa/ , date=2020-10-17 , Fat Lizard Brewing Company Oy. Accessed on 13 October 2020.

References

External links

Official site

Restaurant Fat Lizard
Breweries in Finland