With our journey into the Kent area for the first time, we figured we had to throw in a little bit of our favorite pastimes in antique- and craft beer-seeking into our journey. With plenty of fuel for the journey provided by the fun and kitschy joint that is Mike's Place (the subject of my last blogpost), we first dropped by into nearby Tallmadge for a visit to Viva Vintage!
Recently relocated from Cuyahoga Falls, the listed address for Viva Vintage is slightly deceiving (while it may be post office correct, it's almost better if you plug in neighboring Wire Wizards into your GPS system if you drop by for a visit.)
The vintage silver Christmas tree outside was a good sign for this place's potential, and really it didn't disappoint for the size. In a way, the size and decor reminded me of some of the vintage shops lining High Street to either side of North Broadway: just a little of everything organized in a relatively neat manner.
If you are looking for vintage stereo equipment, Viva Vintage! may be worth your consideration. Not only does the shop have one room with a fair number of these old school devices around, but we also found out from the owner Sue that her father has a background in repairing and refurbishing those old school components. Anything with a price tag had already been looked at by her father, but she would be happy to test out any equipment that hadn't gone through that scrutiny.
Afterward, we decided to venture into Kent and drop by Madcap Brew Co. for a brew or two.
Afterward, we decided to venture into Kent and drop by Madcap Brew Co. for a brew or two.
Originally started in Stow in 2013, the owners made the move to a former manufacturing building on the outskirts of Kent in 2015 while increasing their capacity over threefold to a 10-barrel system. Unsurprisingly, the industrial style exterior reminded us of Columbus breweries such as Sideswipe Brewing and the original location of Zaftig Brewing.
There's plenty of room on the inside as it turns out, with more than enough space to host decently large group celebrations (which was the case the day of our visit.) The folks at Madcap kept things pretty simple with the space, with simply painted walls, ample flat screen TVs, benches for seating, and a small tap area in the back center area. The room directly east of the main area sports a few arcade style games (a sign noted that Madcap hosts a weekly pinball league on Tuesdays.)
On this day, Madcap had seven of their brews on tap. We figured we go with four of our preferred styles and maybe add a pint of our preferred brew on top of that; perhaps it says something that after trying the first four, we were impressed enough to make sure we had the other three. As it turned out, it was one of those last three that we didn't originally order in their Wizard Cloak Belgian Quad that turned out to be our mutual favorite, a brew that we'd definitely order again.
Other highlights were their IPAs (my spouse preferred their flagship Bullet, while I gave the edge to their DIPA Shwing!) and their Expendable Youth #3 Imperial Stout. The coffee flavor (provided by local roasters Bent Tree) was perfectly balanced, and the mouthfeel was perfect on all the beers in general.
Viva Vintage!
431 West Avenue (Google Maps)
Tallmadge, OH 44278
(330) 920-1437
Facebook Yelp
Madcap Brew Co.
1422 Mogadore Rd (Google Maps)
Kent, OH 44240
(330) 548-9654
Facebook Instagram Twitter Untappd Website
There's plenty of room on the inside as it turns out, with more than enough space to host decently large group celebrations (which was the case the day of our visit.) The folks at Madcap kept things pretty simple with the space, with simply painted walls, ample flat screen TVs, benches for seating, and a small tap area in the back center area. The room directly east of the main area sports a few arcade style games (a sign noted that Madcap hosts a weekly pinball league on Tuesdays.)
On this day, Madcap had seven of their brews on tap. We figured we go with four of our preferred styles and maybe add a pint of our preferred brew on top of that; perhaps it says something that after trying the first four, we were impressed enough to make sure we had the other three. As it turned out, it was one of those last three that we didn't originally order in their Wizard Cloak Belgian Quad that turned out to be our mutual favorite, a brew that we'd definitely order again.
Other highlights were their IPAs (my spouse preferred their flagship Bullet, while I gave the edge to their DIPA Shwing!) and their Expendable Youth #3 Imperial Stout. The coffee flavor (provided by local roasters Bent Tree) was perfectly balanced, and the mouthfeel was perfect on all the beers in general.
Viva Vintage!
431 West Avenue (Google Maps)
Tallmadge, OH 44278
(330) 920-1437
Facebook Yelp
Madcap Brew Co.
1422 Mogadore Rd (Google Maps)
Kent, OH 44240
(330) 548-9654
Facebook Instagram Twitter Untappd Website
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