Malcolm X Abram, at the Akron Beacon-Journal and Ohio.com, gets up and close at Canton Brewing.
It’s hu-u-u-ge.
No, that’s not a lazy presidential joke. It’s the first impression you get of the Canton Brewing Co.
Housed in a building downtown right in the heart of Canton’s Arts District, featuring two floors of booze, food and crazy high ceilings adding up to more than 15,000 total square feet, it’s a frickin’ huge spot. You could probably take two dates there on the same night, one to the upstairs restaurant and the other to the downstairs Speakeasy, and pull it off until they get curious about all those really long bathroom breaks you keep taking.
(Please, don’t do that. It’s not impressive; you’re probably just being an egotistical jerk.)
Anyway, even if you’re not looking for a proper environment for your dual date, Canton Brewing likely has something you’ll enjoy.
Full disclosure: I didn’t spend much time upstairs in the restaurant. It’s got a bright, wide-open floor plan with a lot of wood, some working beer tanks to remind you it’s a brewery, a nice lengthy full-sized bar with smaller bar area, and it’s all adjacent to the main dining region.
The menu is “pub-style” cuisine, which translates to a variety of burgers and sandwiches in the $10-$15 range, from basic fare such as a Reuben to upwardly mobile items such as the Truffle Burger and Surf and Turf sliders (roast beef and crab cakes). Plus there are appetizers (the scotch eggs wrapped with chorizo and topped with avocado hollandaise are yumtastic!) and a variety of hand-tossed pizzas.
Downstairs is the Speakeasy, with two entrances. One is in the back of the restaurant. The other is around the corner next to the Rite Aid, where you walk through a hall, down some slightly spooky stairs and make a left and voila! You’re in another huge room.
The Speakeasy isn’t going for any retro, let’s-pretend-it’s-the-1920s decor. It’s a big, brick basement loosely separated into “areas.” There’s the Cornhole Corner with nearly constant games going. There’s an area of low tables that is perfect for holding the frequent birthday parties and other mostly adult gatherings that folks have down there. There’s a long, big bar, and behind that bar are helpful and knowledgeable wait staff who are more than willing to answer questions about any of the 14 in-house beers currently on tap.
As is generally the case with any brewer with several taps, some of Canton Brewing’s beers are delicious (black jack dunkel, Carpe Noctem coffee porter, Tuscora pilaster) and others less so (Weee! Scotch Ale, indeed). There are also a few wine and liquor choices for non-beer drinkers.
In the middle of the room is a couch area, featuring a giant version of the block-stacking/building game Jenga, which is quite popular. On the other side of the very … large … room are more tables, and the pizza and sandwich kitchen (no, you can’t have restaurant food delivered to the Speakeasy).
Georgene and Giulio Gabriele of Canton were trying out the Speakeasy for the first time, after a few positive experiences upstairs where the squares eat.
“The food is good,” Giulio said.
“Yes, very good. Surprisingly good. We didn’t know what to expect,” Georgene said. She noted that her husband’s wheat allergy forced him to try one of the specialty cocktails, which she described as “fantastic, real high end. Like something we had in the East Village.”
Georgene, who enjoys complex, flavorful beers like the coffee porter, also loves the atmosphere and energy of the speakeasy.
For Giulio, looking around the basement beer joint is a slightly surreal trip back in time to his youthful days. The building used to be a McCrory’s store where his uncle ran the shoe repair department, and he remembers running around the basement toy section with his cousin.
“I used to play right over there,” he said, pointing to where the couches and Giant Jenga now reside.
“The downtown area is trying to revitalize and we come down here quite a bit. We go to wine bars usually, but I really love this space here,” Georgene said.
“I’d much rather patronize the local places, then the chains. We always try to do that,” Giulio said.
Canton Brewing’s Speakeasy is a cool place for when you are with or just want to be around a lot of people. The atmosphere is convivial, the beers are mostly quite good and the food is yummy. Oh, and Giant Jenga!
