“Researchers”: Mike Searl & Alex Hall
On a sunny, mid-August day, we met up for some “research” at the newest brewery in Cuyahoga Falls, Missing Mountain Brewing Company (MMBC), all in the name of journalism, of course. Missing Mountain boasts a brand new building, with a recently opened taproom and state-of-the-art brewing facility, and its selection of staple brews for beer snobs, mild tastes for the unenlightened beer drinker, and strange-but-tasty concoctions is bound to make it a mainstay in the Falls brewery scene.
MMBC’s pseudo-mountain cabin interior feels a bit claustrophobic, but would be cozy in the wintertime, plus there is the option of the open-air balcony seating area, which overlooks the Cuyahoga River. More importantly, MMBC’s beer doesn’t disappoint overall. While we are hardly beer experts—perhaps not even “snobs”—we do have discerning tastes, so you can take our opinions with a grain of malt. (See what we did there?) We paid $10 each for flights of four MMBC beers, sampling all seven available during our visit.
The Checking Boxes Blonde Ale is what you’d get if someone dragged you to the brewery and you were aghast that they didn’t have Budweiser or Miller—it’s more tart than those, but without much body, which is probably the point. The Bumpin Hot Pipes IPA, meanwhile, is a New England-style IPA with three different hops and the highest ABV at 6.6%. Its grapefruit notes make it a satisfyingly bitter, yet citrusy IPA that would be hard to switch away from after one pint. The Orangier Orange Cream Ale, which is supposed to have the flavor of an orange creamsicle, fails at its gimmick—neither of us wanted to finish the 5oz. glass—but the Electric Boots and Mohair Suits porter lives up to its promise of dark cocoa and black malt flavors with a hoppy finish, and the bitterness provides notes of coffee. Prince Juice—a beer homage to the late pop star—cleverly uses the words “raspberry puree” because it is responsible for the beer’s color and flavor, but here the gimmick works. We finished with the Passive Aggressive Pale Ale, which is supposed to be passively malted and aggressively hopped, but doesn’t have the bitterness one would expect, and the Everyday Can’t Be a Holiday Session IPA, which comes off weak compared to the others, though the 4.5% alcohol content is probably to blame.
Our top choices at MMBC are the Bumpin Hot Pipes IPA and the Electric Boots and Mohair Suits Porter, with Passive Aggressive Pale Ale and Prince Juice tied at third between us. Without a doubt, Missing Mountain has created something special for the city’s brewery scene, and, though there is formidable competition, they seem poised to stack up.
