Popular Count Chocula cereal returning to stores in beer form

Last year, to make its Halloween-inspired Cerealiously Count Chocula beer, Black Bottle Brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado, had to buy every last box off the shelves in every nearby town, making the brewer seem more like an early Grinch who stole Halloween.

This year, the brewery is getting the Count Chocula cereal directly from the supplier, General Mills.

Cerealiously Count Chocula returns to the brewery's taps Aug. 25. The beer, made from chocolate and marshmallow cereal, then goes to the Great American Beer Fest before (hopefully) coming to a bottle near you.

Boxes of the cereal are typically a Halloween release, making for a popular morning tradition on the final day of October.

Black Bottle owner Sean Nook said the brewery received its necessary supply "over a month ago."