Most people agree, about the only thing February has going for it is its length. Just four weeks long—except for once every four years when it decides to be a wise guy and hang around for an extra day—unless you’re one of those “Oooh, I love winter so, so much!!!” types, the shortest month is often also the bleakest. Four weeks of dull, leaden skies, a deadbeat sun, punctuated in the middle by that couples’ minefield called Valentine’s Day, and at the end of it, all you have to look forward to is March 1.

So that’s why we need stuff to help us get through this prison term of a month. Stuff like The Korner Pub’s Stout Month. All month long, five of the Pub’s 10 taps will be dedicated exclusively to stouts, the dark, roasty black beer made famous by Guinness in Dublin, but now commonplace just about everywhere. The color comes from the distinctive black malt used in the brewing.

Robb Full, owner of the Korner Pub, imported the idea from Mountain Sun Pubs & Breweries in Colorado, where he used to work. One day he was wearing an old Mountain Sun “I Heart Stout Month” T-shirt when a visiting sales rep suggested that that would be a good fit for the Korner. And so, last year, Stout Month debuted here. Last year Stout Month accounted for 23 barrels. The goal is to get through 28 this year, with brews from Hitchhiker, Insurrection, Full Pint and North Country, to name just a few. You can see the list of featured stouts, mostly local, here.

“Stout offers a pretty workable palate,” says Full. “You can put a lot of flavors into a stout.”

Flavors such as chocolate, coffee, oatmeal. Bell’s even has a cherry stout, which is one of the stars of this year’s lineup.

“Stout Month,” says Full. “It’s just two syllables, easy to say, and you get a good picture in your head.”

Stout Month kicks off on Friday, February 1 at 4 p.m. with a pizza party with slices from Romulus Pizza al Taglio.

February. We’ll get through it. With stout.