[Update: This beer will be released on Monday, July 7! Need a hint as to where you can find it? Try calling one of the Stone sales representatives for your local area listed on this distribution info page at Stone’s website Or ‘Google’ the distributor you see on there and try contacting them directly. Good luck! (Below is our original story breaking the news back in March).]

(Escondido, CA) – Stone has gotten label approval on its 12th Anniversary beer. The beer will be called “Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout,” a 9.2% ale brewed with bitter chocolate. Little is known about the beer other than that it will presumably be in the same vein as Hoppin Frog’s B.O.R.I.S. the Crusher and Southern Tier’s Choklat (versus big coffee accented stouts). Stone is in partnership with Chuao Chocolatier, with whom it hosted a beer and chocolate tasting event around Valentine’s Day, for this project.

The back of the label shows extensive writing which reads like someone’s journal (Greg Koch, CEO?), written after hosting the Stone Winter Storm Fest back in January. The shortage of hops is a key point; this beer appears to be a strategic move away from the big hoppy ales that Stone brewed for its 10th and 11th anniversaries.

The anniversary release date changes from year to year but the last two dates have fallen in late August and early September. With the release of Vertical Epic on “08.08.08,” rumor is that this beer will be released much earlier in the summer. As it has done with the 10th and 11th, Stone will have a web page dedicated to the 2008 anniversary party which will eventually be available at www.stonebrew.com/12th (the link is empty at this time).

And if that weren’t enough, Stone Russian Imperial Stout came out this past week.