originstory-blacksquirrel-header-021417
originstory-blacksquirrel-header-021417

Origin Story | Cinder Block Brewery’s Black Squirrel

February 15, 2017  |  Jonathan Bender  |  1 min read

Back in summer 2013, a few weeks after Cinder Block Brewery began operation, they were brewing an unnamed Russian Imperial Stout.

A faulty temperature sensor meant that their brew system kept dumping food-grade glycol on the cement behind the brewhouse.

Owner Bryce Schaffter went outside to investigate and that’s when he saw it...

 

I looked over to the left and there was a black squirrel lapping up the glycol on the ground because it was sweet. I thought that’s the biggest rat I’ve ever seen with a fluffy tail.

Bryce Googled it and discovered there are black squirrels in Missouri.

For the next two weeks, the squirrel came back looking for more glycol.

And ever since, then there’s a single family of black squirrels that we see once or twice a year.

It’s like a sasquatch, but we call it a squirrel-squatch.

Black Squirrel launches this week. Check out #TapList, our new weekly beer calendar, for details. Got an origin story you think we should illustrate? Drop us a line on Twitter. 

Tags:

Reading these stories is free, but telling them is not. Start your monthly gift now to support Flatland’s community-focused reporting.

Support Local Journalism

Nick’s Picks | Messi, Jail, Buses, and More …

June 1, 2026

World Cup Team(s) Arrive It’s starting to feel real. The first World Cup team has landed in Kansas City. Defending champions Argentina touched down at KCI airport on Sunday and will begin practicing today at Sporting KC’s training facility in Wyandotte County. Much of the attention, of course, is focused on Lionel Messi. The soccer…

Related Stories

You Won’t Believe Eskimo Pie’s Connection to Kansas City

By Jonathan Bender | October 31, 2018

[FLEX-CONTENT] Want to see the other pieces in the #OriginStory series, click here. Got an origin story you think we should illustrate? Drop us a line on Twitter.

Read More >

Origin Story | Bomb Pop

By Jonathan Bender | June 27, 2018

[FLEX-CONTENT] Want to see the other pieces in the series, click here. Got an origin story you think we should illustrate? Drop us a line on Twitter.

Read More >

Origin Story | The Waffle Cone

By Jonathan Bender | April 4, 2018

[FLEX-CONTENT] [FLEX-CONTENT] [FLEX-CONTENT] Want to see the other pieces in the series, click here. Got an origin story you think we should illustrate? Drop us a line on Twitter.

Read More >