Bourbon? Check.  Coffee?  Check. Chocolate?  Check.   If these are some of your favorite things in the world, then you must be eagerly awaiting the release of Founders Brewing Company’s seasonal release Kentucky Breakfast Stout.  Here’s the description from Founders’ website:

What we’ve got here is an imperial stout brewed with a massive amount of coffee and chocolates then cave-aged in oak bourbon barrels for an entire year, to make sure wonderful bourbon undertones come through in the finish. Make your taste buds squeal with delight.

Now, where will you be able to find this wonderful beer?  Well, it’s important to note that while the following list has already secured their allocation for KBS, they may not yet have it.  Make sure to call each location before heading out.

Now, here’s a list of places in St. Louis that will have KBS:

Draught:

• International Tap House
• Growlers Sunset Inn
• Good Pie, The
• Cicero’s Restaurant
• Royale Food & Spirits, The
• The Stable
• Newstead Tower Public House
• Growlers Creve Coeur Inn
• 33 Wine Shop & Tasting Bar

Bottles:

• 33 Wine Shop & Tasting Bar
• Arena Liquor -Hampton
• Bob’s Liquor
• Brandt’s Cafe & Red Carpet Lounge
• Cicero’s Restaurant
• Devine Wines & Spirits
• Dressel’s Pub
• Eclipse
• Friar Tuck Beverage – Crestwood
• Friar Tuck Beverage – Fenton
• Friar Tuck Beverage – O’Fallon
• Good Pie, The
• Growlers Creve Coeur Inn
• Growlers Sunset Inn
• International Tap House
• Krekeler’s Market  (Macklind Deli)
• Legrands Market
• Lukas Liquor Superstore – Stl
• Newstead Tower Public House
• Paradise Valley Wine & Spirits
• Pi Squared
• Provisions
• Randalls Wine & Spirits – Jefferson
• Riddle’s Penultimate Cafe & Wine Bar
• Royale Food & Spirits, The
• Shaved Duck, The
• Starrs
• Straubs #3 – Kingshighway
• Straubs #7 – Clayton
• The Stable
• T’s Liquor Lane
• Whole Foods Market – Town & Country
• Whole Foods Market – Brentwood
• Wine & Cheese Place – Ballwin
• Wine & Cheese Place – Forsyth
• Wine & Cheese Place – Manchester
• Wine Chateau

This is a big update in two ways.  One is that I have exciting news about two of the most sought after beers from Founders Brewing.  The other reason the update is big is that both of the beers in question have an ABV above 11%.

According to Missouri Beverage’s Derek Bean, we should begin seeing Founders special release named Nemesis on shelves beginning tomorrow, March 4th.  Nemesis is a wheatwine.  Ok, it’s not just any old wheatwine, here’s their description of the beer:

“The 2009 release of Nemesis is best described as a Maple Bourbon barrel aged wheat wine holding 12% abv and 70 ibu’s. The barrels have been resting deep in the mines of Grand Rapids for nearly 9 months and have been most effective in developing a great product. The Bourbon barrels we used in this creation were once used to age Maple syrup from northern Michigan, then emptied, and procured for our use in aging this beer. The combination of American oak, Kentucky Bourbon, Michigan Maple syrup and our golden/tan wheat ale has provided a delicious malty sweet ale distinctive of strong vanilla and bourbon notes.”

As you can imagine, this will be a very sought after beer and will disappear from store shelves quickly. Don’t miss out on this.

The other big beer is the yearly release of Founders KBS (previously known as Kentucky Breakfast Stout.) KBS Day will be celebrated on Saturday, March 13 at the Founders brewery. What that means for St. Louis is that we’ll begin seeing KBS show up on store shelves and on draught on Monday, March 15th!

Where could we be seeing this on draught?  Early reports is that we’ll be seeing it at Bigelo’s Bistro and The Good Pie has already said they’ll be tapping a keg on March 15th. I know I’ll be there.

Cicero’s Italian Restaurant continues their Winter Beer School semester this Wednesday from 5:30-6:30PM. Cicero’s Beer School provides background about beers and beer styles usually directly from people directly in the beer industry. It’s perfect opportunity to learn more about a style you’re unfamiliar with or to just brush up on a style you haven’t enjoyed in a while.

This week’s school is being hosted by Derek Bean from Missouri Beverage and they’ll be tasting beers from Founders Brewery. Derek will be on hand to discuss and sample some of Founders beers including the Dirty Bastard, Breakfast Stout, Red’s Rye, and Centenial IPA. Go out and take advantage of one of the few places where you can drink and learn!

If you can’t make it out to the Beer School, you can check out all of the classes via podcast at Cicerosbeerschool.com.

CASK! CASK! CASK! CASK! Who has two thumbs and loves cask beer? This guy. Judging by other cask events in the area, I know I’m not the only one.

Well, lucky for all of us cask beer lovers, it turns out that the International Tap House will be having a Founders Centennial IPA Cask Night on Tuesday, December 8th from 7-9PM.

Not only will you have the opportunity to try delicious cask beer, but they’ll also have Founders Imperial Stout on draught as well!

But wait! There’s more! Your first $5 will pay for your first glass, and additional Founders refills are just $4. Plus, you get to keep your Founders pint glass (while supplies last). Because you can never have too much glassware.

Opportunities like this don’t come around very often so make sure to make it out to iTap on Tuesday!

You have to give it to The Stable, they’re not one to rest upon the 2009 Best Beer Selection in a Restaurant award from the Riverfront Times, they’re always trying to push the envelope. So it should be no surprise that their newest creation tugs at the beer geek’s heart.

Back in May, The Stable began a series of events they call “Firkin Fridays.” Over a number of different Fridays, they will be bringing in different cask ales from different breweries around the nation. This Friday, December 4th, beginning at 6PM, you’ll have a chance to purchase pints of the Red’s Rye from Founders Brewery.

Exciting stuff. Many of us have been begging for more cask ale in the St. Louis area and The Stable, as always, has been listening.

I remember when Founders Brewery began releasing beers back in June, one of the first questions asked to Founders Director of Sales, Michael Bell was, “Why don’t we get your Pale Ale?”  Founders makes a Pale Ale, but it was originally just for their Michigan customers.

His answer was basically that there are a lot of Pale Ales in many markets and they didn’t want to be just another Pale Ale on the shelf.  That’s a fair answer, it does seem like most breweries have a Pale Ale and no one wants their beer to feel like it’s just a fallback.

But, that doesn’t mean that requests for the beer don’t stop from coming in.  So, never one to disappoint their loyal fans, Founders has begun distributing their Pale Ale to eight of the fourteen states they currently distribute to.  We’re one of those lucky states.

This is an easy drinking 5.4% ABV beer with 35 IBUs of bitterness.  The recipe for their beer consists of nothing but Cascade hops; so you know you’re in store for a beer with a wonderful citrusy aroma and flavor.

This beer was just recently released in the market, so it should now be on the shelves of your favorite local retailer.

The summer months are usually a quiet time for craft beer drinkers.  It’s not that there isn’t new beer coming in, but the Summer just doesn’t seem to get people into the same frenzy that beers coming out in the Winter and Fall do.

Well, it’s still officially still Summer and we’re going through a beer bonanza this week.  Here’s a list of beers that have begun hitting stores this week:

• New Belgium Lips of Faith Folie
• New Belgium Transatlantique Kriek
• New Belgium Lips of Faith Biere de Mars
• New Belgium Lips of Faith La Fleur Misseur
• Schlafly Pumpkin
• Koningshoeven Le Trappe Isid’or Trappist
• Laughing Dog Imperial IPA
• Avery The Kaiser

Word has it that Founders Breakfast Stout makes its way into the city next week.  As always, make sure to check out the STL Hops Twitter for the quickest new beers news in St. Louis. It may not yet be Fall, but we’re getting a large amount of great beer now.