USA, OH: Missing Mountain Brewing Co to open its doors this week

Missing Mountain Brewing Co. — which will hold its soft opening on June 7 and grand opening on June 9 and 10 — has a definite intimate feel inside and out, the Akron Beacon Journal reported on June 5.

The taproom is small and filled with wood — whether it’s the wooden high-top communal tables or the wood covering the front of the bar. Large windows let in natural light.

There’s also a covered, outdoor seating area, along with a giant concrete patio in the back filled with tables with umbrellas and planters designed by The Red Twig to provide a splash of color.

The patio, which has an area for live music in the future, offers spectacular views of the rambling Cuyahoga River and it’s not unusual to spot deer, hawks and even a bald eagle hanging out.

“What we tried to create here is a warm place,” said Dave Bertolotti, who founded the brewery along with friends Keith McFarlane, Dan Kephart and Danny Yagersz. “I don’t like to use the word upscale but it is upscale-ish. We really wanted to walk this line between being a sophisticated-feeling taproom but not being off-putting or snobbish.”

McFarlane agreed with that assessment.

“We have a little bit of a different vibe here,” he said. “It’s almost like you’re at your own home.”

The 10-barrel stainless steel Portland Kettle Works brewing system is housed in an adjacent building and not front and center on display.

Missing Mountain is located at 2811 Front St. on property that once housed a gas station and borders the village of Silver Lake. It’s is the third brewery to call Cuyahoga Falls home. McArthur’s Brew House is within walking distance, while HiHO Brewing is less than two miles away also on Front Street. Ohio Brewing Co. also has plans to open.

Missing Mountain — the name stems from the founders’ love of the outdoors and mountains — is not only a brewery and tasting room, but also an eatery.

It will offer wraps, sandwiches, salads and Bavarian pretzels made by Ingmar Rauschert. But it doesn’t want to be called a brewpub, preferring to be known as a brewery that happens to offer food.

Missing Mountain has a liquor license and will serve a selection of wines and liquors as well as its draft beer.

While the brewery is officially opening to the public this week, it has been producing beer for accounts such as Taco Tontos in Kent and Pizza 216 in Cleveland for a couple of months and will continue to do so.

The beer

The brewery is launching its taproom with 10 beers:

• Daddy Issues, a 4.9 percent kolsch.

• Checking Boxes, a 5 percent blonde ale.

• Orangier Orange, a 5.1 percent orange cream ale.

• Prince Juice, a 5.3 percent raspberry cream ale. (The name is nod to Prince’s song Raspberry Beret.)

• Morningstar, a 5.8 percent American pale ale.

• Zwickel Trickle, a 5.6 percent New England-style pale ale.

• Meat Helmet, a 7 percent Belgian-style pale ale.

• Electric Boots and Mohair Suits, a 7 percent American porter.

• Maddy, an 8.5 percent imperial stout.

• Pocketful of Misses, a 7.2 percent hazy IPA.

The brewery employs European-style, stainless steel cider taps that provide a blend of 60 percent carbon dioxide and 40 percent nitrogen that create a creaminess for the beers, McFarlane said.

Missing Mountain is producing draft beer only and there are no immediate plans to bottle or can.

Bertolotti, McFarlane, Kephart and Yagersz have been talking about opening a brewery for years and they are excited that the day has finally arrived.

“It’s been such a long journey,” McFarlane said. “We’ve been in this construction mode for so long, the past year and a half, to get to the point where we’re actually opening is pretty surreal.”

05 June, 2018