“Researchers”: Alex Hall & Mike Searl
Last summer, before anyone had ever heard of coronavirus, Ohio Brewing Company was just getting set to open its doors in its new Cuyahoga Falls home on Front Street. When we previewed the opening, we decided it would be best to let the business get its legs in the new location before scrutinizing the beer in one of our Tap Talk articles. With seven months of full operation now under its belt prior to the coronavirus shutdown, we decided we would go ahead and organize a tasting, albeit in a different way than we usually do.
Ohio Brewing has done its best to adapt to life during COVID-19—as all businesses have—offering a not-so-limited menu of its food offerings for takeout, including lots of appetizers, burgers, and the OBC trademark spent-grain pizza, which uses flour made from grain used in the beer brewing process, producing a pleasantly sweet and fluffy pizza crust. As for the beer, 64oz growler fills are available, as are 16oz crowlers (basically “tall boy” cans, filled and sealed to order). Patrons can purchase an OBC-branded growler filled with a house brew for $18 and get refills for $12. The crowlers, meanwhile, run $20 for a four-pack of the house offerings. We purchased six brews in crowlers for our tasting—Steel Valley Stout, O’Hoppy Ale, Verich Gold, Double Irish Red, Summit Saison, and Maple Porter.
Our tasting was unique in that we each stopped in at the brewery separately, purchased our beer to-go, and brought it home to wait in the refrigerator until we could meet on Zoom to try each brew and thereby observe social distancing in light of COVID-19. Otherwise, we settled into our usual tasting routine: smelling, tasting, commenting, and cracking jokes left and right.
We began with the Maple Porter, and were fairly happy with it strictly as a porter, but if it were just called “Porter,” it would be tough to tell there was local maple syrup in the recipe from the smell or taste. There is a sweetness to the brew, but it isn’t very heavy, and regardless of the maple’s detectability, we enjoyed it. Next up, we tried the Summit Saison, which has a distinct malty flavor, but there was also a strangely acrid, metallic flavor that was off-putting. While it is possible the can altered the flavor, we supposed, we did not enjoy it either way. After the saison, we tried Verich Gold, a German Kolsch-style ale that won the People’s Choice Award at the 2010 Cleveland Labor Day Oktoberfest, long before the brewery set up shop in Cuyahoga Falls. The beer has a pleasantly sour smell, but the flavor is really light—so light in fact that we found the brew largely forgettable. Moving on to the Double Irish Red, we were quick fans—its smooth, creamy texture along with the body one expects from a red ale placed it easily amongst our favorite OBC beers. Next up was the Steel Valley Stout, a flavorful stout what with its notes of chocolate and coffee, but lacking the chew one would usually expect from a stout. What really got in the way of this stout, though, was the mouth feel, oddly enough, because it was, well, odd—ranging from “thin” to “chalky.” Not our favorite. O’Hoppy IPA was last in line for our tasting—a pleasant enough IPA generally speaking, but lacking a wow factor that might impress seasoned craft beer drinkers. O’Hoppy comes off as an entry-level IPA—it smells good, has a pleasant, almost-orange color, and is easy drinking, but it leaves a little to be desired.
All in all, our top three brews of the six we sampled were the Double Irish Red, O’Hoppy IPA, and Maple Porter. The others let us down to varying degrees, but again, we are not certified Cicerone nor trained beer judges, and the beers were poured into cans, sealed, and refrigerated for a few hours before tasting, so it’s anybody’s guess whether that may have impacted flavors, textures, etc.
You can learn more about owner-operator Chris Verich in our preview article from last summer—he has quite a history with Ohio Brewing Company that stretches back many years. In the article, we also detailed the taproom space, which we usually like to do alongside our highlights of the food offerings at the breweries we spotlight in the Tap Talk series. Due to the pandemic and the resulting form of this Tap Talk edition, we could not include that piece.
Ohio Brewing Company, like all downtown businesses, needs your help to stay afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic, so be sure to patronize the brewery and all local businesses to support them during this time.
Visit www.ohiobrewing.com to view the limited food menu and brews currently on tap for growlers and crowlers.
