PRINTDrink This: Cysquatch IPA
Rock Bridge Brewing Co. releases their newest hybrid craft beer
ELIZABETH PIERSON
The Cysquatch IPA is a new beer from the Rock Bridge Brewery, a newly opened local brewing company. The IPA is one of the most popular the brewery offers.
May 24, 2012 | 12:00 a.m. CST
A sip of the rich, amber-colored Cysquatch IPA brings a smack of intense and complex flavors. A sweet caramel mix of malt accompanies the bitter, fruity, hoppy flavors and leaves the palate happily confused by the hybrid craft beer.
The name of the beer, a combination of Cyclops and Sasquatch, is fitting for the
big-bodied brew. Because of its name and ingredients, the beer’s creator, Stu Burkemper, affectionately calls the IPA “kind of a silly beer.”
The brand-new beverage is the creation of Rock Bridge Brewing Co., a new Columbia craft “nanobrewery.” The company released the IPA at the beginning of April, and more than nine Columbia locations now sell it on tap, including Shakespeare’s Pizza, Bleu and 1839 Taphouse.
“It’s unlike any IPA that’s made in the region,” says Dave Brouder, president and founding partner
of the brewery.
The citrusy Cysquatch IPA is a blend of West Coast IPA and English yeast with six kinds of malts and four pounds of hops per barrel. At a whopping 7.1 percent alcohol by volume, be careful, or the “Squatch” might sneak up on you.
Since the ribbon-cutting ceremony held on April 11 at Shakespeare’s, Burkemper and Brouder have been working hard and say the brewery plans to develop between six and nine more beers this year. But they still manage to find time for a cold one at the end of the day — and the rich, flavorful, slightly jarring Cysquatch is the perfect brew to enjoy.
