USA, OH: Headtrip Brewery to serve its last beer this month

There was a moment about a year ago, as the clouds of the coronavirus pandemic hovered, when Tom Mitchell turned to brewer and business partner Nick Seagle with a loaded question, Cleveland.com reported on December 8.

“We were already kind of talking about just how everything’s going,” Seagle said. “And he asked, ‘Do you want to do this still?’ And I said, ‘Not really.’ And he goes, ‘Me neither.’ "

For his part, Mitchell breathed easier at that moment, the two of them near the fermenters. “Thank goodness,” he said, “because it could have been a point of contention.”

Seagle added: “It was just getting so frustrating.”

That frustration ends this month when Headtrip Brewery will serve its last beer. The pals opened the brewery in December 2017. Since then, along with Sierra Guterba working business and marketing aspects, the brewery had found its niche as a comfortable hangout in a strip mall in Stow.

Their reasons dovetailed into what is becoming a Covid refrain: Pandemic restrictions affecting the bottom line, supply-chain issues, cost increases and looming rent. They had mulled a restaurant venture but dismissed that idea. As their lease came due they made the decision to close up shop at Norton and Darrow roads.

They wanted to remain open as long as possible out of consideration for those working on their Summit Brew Path stops, Mitchell and Seagle said. They have been going month-to-month on rent and are winding down their beers.

“So we could end it the way we wanted – our five-year anniversary, finish the Brew Path, not screw anybody over, and just call it a day after that,” Seagle said.

The idea had been percolating for a while, so the partners are at peace with their decision. The brewery’s final day will be whenever they run out of beer, which means this month. They’ll go out with a bang, holding a party Saturday, Dec. 17, on loyal bartender Andy Miller’s birthday.

Like many business areas, Covid hit them. A nearby consignment shop was good for the brewery until it moved. They said husbands would saunter down to sip a beer while their wives would shop. They were friends with the folks at Tavern of Stow across the street, but that business also closed. Neighboring businesses in the strip mall also shut down.

“It’s been fun. I don’t want to dwell on the negatives,” Guterba said.

“Well, we can’t anymore,” Seagle quipped, “because we already did that. We’re on the other side of that.”

Mitchell’s and Seagle’s goal was always to offer good beer in a place where people could meet and make new friends. In an effort to foster interpersonal communication, they never had televisions.

“Nobody comes here to watch TV, that’s for sure,” Mitchell said.

“It always starts with people hanging out,” Seagle said. “It’s meant to get away from everyday nonsense. Once you’re here, you’re here for a while. You try to forget about everything.”

Before Covid, Mitchell said, people would come in “when it was less weird to sit next to strangers. ‘Oh, is there a seat in the back?’ ‘No, there is no back, there’s a seat right there. You have beer in common. Go sit by them.’ You look up later, and they’re chatting it up.”

Headtrip’s goal was always to be a craft-brewpub version of “Cheers” – sans TVs. The cozy bar at Headtrip had five seats, with communal tables, board games and darts filling the narrow space.

“How many other people would come in here for the first time and go, ‘You need some TVs in here.’ No, sorry,” Seagle said.

“You need to talk to strangers, you might meet someone cool,” Mitchell said.

Strangers turned into friends. They held two weddings at the brewery; Mitchell is an ordained minister.

In the beginning, they worked especially hard. Between their day jobs (Mitchell is an operations manage, Seagle is an engineer), brewing beer and operating the business, time off was rare. Guterba remembers Seagle’s original 34-page business plan – “I typed it, you guys gave me the answers.”

“Sunday was our day off,” Guterba said about she and Mitchell. “And you’re so dead tired. You might do a couple loads of laundry. That was it. And hang out with our dogs.”

Now, their three-barrel system and other equipment is for sale. And opening another brewery is not in the cards, they said.

“I wouldn’t rule out brewing,” said Seagle, who added he would not mind guest brewing some place. “I wouldn’t want to own again.”

He added: “I like doing it. I’m going to take a break, though. I’m going to start putting my homebrew system back together. But I still also am not going to brew a whole lot. I need a break.”

But he is brewing special beers for the farewell party – a Black Rye IPA at 7.5% alcohol and barrel-aged Belgian Tripel at 10.2%.

“We’re not sad. It’s bittersweet,” Guterba said. “Don’t get me wrong. It’s bittersweet because it’s the last time of everything, right? But we’ve met so many people. I mean, when I think about the amount of people in our lives who we’ve talked to on a regular basis or see frequently, a lot of them are because we met them here as customers, and now they’re friends.

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