USA, OH: Cuyahoga Falls’ HiHO Brewing hoping to open by Thanksgiving

When Jon and Ali Hovan started looking around the Akron area for a suitable spot for their new brewery, they had one major requirement.

“We wanted to be in a community that wanted us,” Jon Hovan said.

They found that in Cuyahoga Falls, the Akron Beacon Journal reports.

The Hovans, who say the city has been welcoming to their venture, hope to open HiHO Brewing Co. by Thanksgiving in a former car showroom at 1707 Front St.

They hosted a private gathering on August 20 to show off the 6,000-square-foot space, offer tastings of their homebrews such as Bossy Lady IPA and Gorges Blonde Ale, talk about the upcoming operation and kick off an online fundraising campaign.

Their goal is to create a neighborhood gathering place, as opposed to a production brewery.

“We’re going to be really focused on community and socializing here and making new friends,” Jon Hovan said. “We want to make it feel like home.”

With a trailhead nearby for the Summit Metro Parks, they also want to get involved with hiking, biking and outdoor events.

HiHO will offer four to six regular beers on draft, and an additional four to six seasonal brews.

The building was still a shell last week, as the seven-barrel brewhouse, fermenters and bar hadn’t been installed yet.

The brewery overlooks the Cuyahoga River gorge — thus the Gorges Blonde name — and features multiple, large garage doors that open up.

The Hovans are both 31 and grew up in Hudson. They had spent eight years working as teachers in Colorado, Jon in physical education and Ali in art.

There, they soaked up the craft beer culture, and started the Brew Crew homebrew club in Denver. Jon also volunteered at breweries.

Eventually they decided that they wanted to make beer their career.

They moved back to Hudson and are now devoted full time to brewing — or at least right now fixing up their soon-to-open brewery.

“We love brewing. We love craft beer. We love everything about it. We took our passion and made it our lifestyle,” Jon Hovan said.

He plans to brew a wide spectrum of styles.

“My brewing philosophy is to brew clean, fresh stylistic beers,” he said. “I’ve talked to some people about that and they always ask me: ‘What are you going to do? What are you going to focus on?’ I think it’s all about having clean beers.”

With a name like HiHO, you might think there’s an interesting story there.

You’d be right.

But it has nothing to do with dwarves.

Jon Hovan’s nieces nicknamed him “Uncle Ho.” When he would see them, they would say “Hi, Ho.”

It also just happens to be a fun play on “Ohio.”

“We have a lot of Ohio pride in us,” Jon Hovan said. “We moved back from Denver and people always ask us: ‘Why would you move back from such a great, beautiful area?’ Because our families are here. Our friends are here. It’s Ohio pride, basically.”

The couple have launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $20,000 toward the project.

Cuyahoga Falls is shaping up to be quite the craft beer destination.

Front Street is already home to the Craft Beer Bar and The Office. There also are two other breweries planning to open there: Hop Tree Brewing Co. and McArthur’s Brew House.

21 August, 2016