More beers, expanded food menu on tap at Akronym Brewing Public House in Medina County

After a summer of delays, the long-awaited Akronym Brewing Public House in Medina County is open for customers in soft opening mode.

The owners have expanded from Akronym Brewing, which they opened in 2018 in downtown Akron, leasing and renovating the former Rockne's property on Buehlers Drive for the new gastropub and pilot brewery in Montville Township.

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The Public House, which has a huge kitchen, has expanded Akronym's capabilities as a brewpub.

"We really just need the food to make it all work," said co-owner Joshua Blubaugh. "It's something we knew when we started (in 2018) but we wanted to do the brewery first and the food last."

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Seating inside the brewpub and on the patio at the Medina-area eatery totals more than 200, compared to the 60-seat Akron location. The interior at the new Public House is nearly 7,000 square feet, while the patio is 500 square feet.

Blubaugh said plans include nearly tripling the patio size next spring.

The owners — Blubaugh, brewmaster Shawn Adams, Aaron Cruikshank and Kevin Johnson — had always planned to expand. They started looking for a second location around the same time they opened their original Akron location in 2018.

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"If it were not for COVID, we would have had our other location open two years ago," Blubaugh said.

Permit delays have been the main reason for Akronym Public House having its soft opening a couple months late, Blubaugh said. Co-owner Johnson, an engineer who lives in the Columbus area, has served as project manager/general contractor to help keep the buildout costs down.

The Public House originally had been expected to have soft openings in June, which were then pushed back to early July. Unexpected delays included a small electrical fire in June in a walk-in freezer, which was contained to the freezer's door and heat strip.

A problem with plumbing permits followed, delaying plumbing and health inspections for several weeks.

The delays led to the loss of some hired staff, particularly in the kitchen. As a result, Akronym Brewing Public House has had limited hours for soft opening dates that started Aug. 19.

For the next week, the Medina-area location will be open 4 to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, with the kitchen closing at 9 p.m.

"There's just a lot of demand for us to open," said Liz Greising, who handles marketing and day-to-day operations for Akronym.

Her husband, Joseph "Joey" Greising, is general manager for both Akronym locations. He has worked with food at Akronym for several years. He and Liz formerly ran a pop-up kitchen at Akronym while it was looking for food vendors.

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The Public House features a large dining room with a featured wall picturing Akronym's bicycle chain link logo. The logo is a nod to cycle racing, which three of the four owners do together.

The dining room features gray beadboard and is adjacent to a large lounge with numerous couches and other soft seating with colorful pillows. It's a comfortable waiting area where guests can watch a big-screen TV and kids can play games.

"We were trying to make it like a pub — very welcoming, warm vibes," Liz Greising said.

The ample bar, run by bar manager Martin Redle, features Akronym's award-winning beers on tap as well craft cocktails, wines, ciders, sours and seltzers.

Grand opening on hold while Akronym looks for more staff

A grand opening will happen at the Public House once it has more staff, Liz Greising said. The restaurant now has about 10 kitchen staff and would like to bring in eight more, she said.

The restaurant plans to ultimately have the same extended hours as the downtown Akron location, seven days a week.

The goal for the restaurant is to elevate the menu, Greising said. The Public House makes its barbecue and hot sauce from scratch. Everything is hand prepared, and all sauces are homemade.

And of course, beer is featured in the foods: Beer-braised short rib is offered with a pan pasta, burger and as a melt.

The Public House is a full-fledged restaurant compared to the much smaller menu at Akronym in Akron, which has a tiny kitchen offering several sandwiches and salads, munchies, and brunch specials on Sunday.

At the Public House, chef Jake Chernisky offers a pub chili, soup du jour and multiple salad choices. A variety of starters include stuffed dates, fresh-whipped ricotta and tomato jam with naan, and jumbo confit wings.

Also on the menu are six burger varieties with toppings including beer-braised short rib or melted brie and bacon date spread, four chicken varieties and melts in either short rib dip or Philly chicken or steak varieties. Made-to order pan pasta choices include short rib with linguine, marinara and vermouth with Italian sausage and linguine, and "maxaroni" with cheddar bechamel sauce and cavatappi pasta.

Chernisky plans to offer his butcher's block special next weekend, which will be either a pork chop or pork shank. The restaurant also plans to offer charcuterie boards with rotating cheese varieties within the next month.

Vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options or substitutions also are offered.

"Being a restaurant, we wanted to really be able to push the boundaries of that culinary aspect," Liz Greising said.

The location also has a pilot brewery where brewmaster Adams, who also works full time as a firefighter, will use a half-barrel system. The Akron location uses a 10-barrel system.

Adams will be brewing all test batches and nano batches in the Montville Township location, and the Akron location will run the production side. Barrel-aged beer also will move to the new pilot brewery.

Akronym expects to produce 500 barrels this year in downtown Akron and 500 to 1,000 in Montville Township, said Blubaugh.

"We'll have more time to brew beer," Blubaugh said of the pilot brewery. "This'll give us a lot more options for more beer, a lot of varieties."

Arts and restaurant writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com.

Details

Brewpub: Akronym Brewing Public House

Where: 5121 Buehlers Drive, Montville Township

Soft opening hours: 4 to 10 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday; check social media for future updates

Phone: 330-952-1112

Information: Akronym Brewing Public House on Facebook and Instagram

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akronym launches Public House near Medina with soft-opening schedule