Nick Seagle and Tom Mitchell were struggling to pick a name for their new nanobrewery.
Then — just like in the movies — it came to Seagle in a dream.
“I was sleeping and I had a dream that we were at a brewery ... and I looked over and on the wall it said, ‘Headtrip Brewery,’” he said.
He relayed that story to his friend and business partner and viola, their new venture, which they hope to open this summer, had its name.
The trippy logo features an upside down, side view of a smiling face. The head serves as a beer mug and a hop cone and barley are inside the mug.
Headtrip, which will employ a custom-built three-barrel brewing system, is tucked between a tanning salon and a consignment shop in the Stow-Hudson Towne Centre shopping plaza on Norton Road.
Seagle, 32, of Cuyahoga Falls, who works in a motor development lab, and Mitchell, 34, of Stow, who works as a fabricator, are busy now renovating the small storefront space, which used to be a juice bar, and building their brewing system and furniture.
The brewery will feature a small bar with only about six seats; tables and chairs; and a dart board. There won’t be any televisions.
“We want it to be that friendly, get-to-know your neighbors place,” said Mitchell, who has been homebrewing for several years. “We want people to talk to each other.”
Their goal is to replicate the atmosphere from the former Trailhead Brewery, a tiny place that closed in Akron’s Merriman Valley neighborhood. Seagle and Mitchell first met there and bonded as friends.
They are opening a brewery for the same reason many homebrewers make the step — friends told them their beer was pretty good.
Headtrip is one of many new craft breweries coming online as part of a wave of openings around the country. There are now more than 4,200 breweries in the U.S.
The Akron area has seen its share of growth. While there were only three a few years ago, there are now 10 operating in Summit County, with at least another four in the planning process.
The local breweries are spread out enough that there’s plenty of room for more growth, Seagle said.
“I don’t think we’re even getting close to the saturation point,” he said. “There definitely can be more.”
The brewery expects to offer six beers on draft at the outset. Seagle and Mitchell are still figuring out which styles, but they expect an IPA, English mild, chocolate coffee peanut butter ale, Belgian-style beer and fruit beer.
People should always expect rotating fruit and Belgian-style beers.
“Fruits are definitely one of my favorite styles to make,” said Seagle, who works in a motor development lab and has been homebrewing for more than six years. “I mean endless possibilities. The Belgian styles are probably the best style of beer, in my opinion. They are just a flavor unlike anything else.”
He’s also fan of color.
“I love colors in beer,” Seagle said. “When I make stouts, they have to be black, completely black.”
They are still determining the hours for the brewery, but expect it will be open Thursday, Friday and Saturday, with shorter hours likely on Sunday. Headtrip won’t offer food, but will allow people to bring in their own.
To keep track of Headtrip’s progress, click here.