USA, OH: Ohio Brewing Co. sold, new ownership coming in December

Ohio Brewing Co., which spent the past five years on Front Street in Cuyahoga Falls, has been sold, Cleveland.com reported on November 27.

Owners and brothers Chris and Michael Verich confirmed the sale via social media, posting on Facebook that an unnamed restaurant company has acquired the brewery. An appreciation event is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 7.

In the post, Verich said the sale is effective in mid-December and that a cadre of changes might be coming affecting the name, design, menu and décor. He anticipated changes for spring 2025.

When reached early on November 27, Chris Verich said he was not ready to elaborate on details of the sale.

Ohio Brewing Co. has led a peripatetic lifestyle for 27 years. The brothers opened the brewery July 3, 1997, as the first one in Trumbull County since the 19th century. It was one of just a handful of breweries in the state at the time. It lasted in its location across from Eastwood Mall for a few years until financial challenges and a lease due forced the closure.

They tried moving to Youngstown, but that didn’t work out. In 2008, in a partnership with Damon’s Grill, Ohio Brewing moved into the former O’Neil’s department store next to where Barley House is on Main Street in downtown Akron. Again, the move didn’t last long.

As Chris Verich told cleveland.com for a story about the brewery’s 25th anniversary, “I’ve had a lot of ups and downs.”

Through the intermittent brick and mortar locations Ohio Brewing Co. contract-brewed at other places, including Paladin in Austintown and the now-closed Platform in Cleveland.

The brewery then opened in the old Selle Generator Works Building in downtown Akron, but Verich wanted to add a brewpub, so it moved to the city’s Highland Square neighborhood, opening in 2016. He lasted three years until shifting to a two-story brick location in the then newly renovated Front Street in neighboring Cuyahoga Falls. It offers full menu in addition to its beers.

It was a smart choice, with sidewalk renovations on the street and businesses coming in like Leo’s Italian Social located across the street. Several craft breweries also are within about a mile, including HiHO, MacArthur’s and Missing Mountain, offering craft-beer fans a chance to hit several in one shot.

In recent years, Ohio Brewing Co. also expanded to Columbus as a way to build the brand. The Verichs are minority owners in that brewery, which is twice the size of Cuyahoga Falls’ brewing system.

Whether the brewery remains a brewery or is converted to a restaurant or other business remains to be seen. But the sale adds to the changing landscape of Summit County breweries this year. R. Shea closed both of its locations, Lock 15 was acquired by The Brew Kettle, Hop Tree in Hudson shut down and Akronym Brewing also closed.

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