R. Shea Brewing - Merriman Valley

Industrial feeling place on the outskirts of Akron. Parking lot available. Decent sized place. Beer flights are available. The beers I tried were good, but overall they seem to focus too much on the IPA side of life for my preferences. Some people are into that though. Food is available, but I didn't have anything. I would visit again, as the beers I tried were good. Service is very friendly.

Down in the valley as locals call this area, you have the National Park and local parks all around you. Big windows and plenty of lighting in the building. The service was wonderful and the girl did a great job on checking on me. Bar area could hold about 30 people and the back room hold another 20 people easily. R Shea's has 15 taps. They do crowlers, growlers, and have stuff canned also. Plenty of parking. I did not eat but they have a full menu. 5 Dollars a pint and 14 for Growler fills. Overall I love the place Cheers!

(Visited 11/2015 and a couple times since): R. Shea is one of the newer wave of breweries to enter the Akron market, and is located on Merriman Road by Sand Run Metro Park north of downtown. The strip mall has plenty of parking.

The taproom opens to high table seating past the entrance, and a bar along the back wall. Additional seating is available past the bar to the left. Dark stone tiled floors, gray walls and hanging lights above the bar. Behind the bar are tanks, and placards for each of the beers on tap.

R. Shea has around 12 beers on tap, with a lot of rotating offerings and seasonals. On my visits the beers have included West Coast Citra IPA, Chocolate Coffee Stout, Peachy! Hefeweizen, The Perkins-Williams IPL, Cranberry Blonde and Orange Pineapple Habanero Shandy. Samplers are available, and the beers are consistently pretty good.

Service on my visits has been consistently good, and the owner is regularly there working behind the bar.

I have not had food on my visits.

Overall this is a solid brewery to visit in Akron.

This is another one of the comfortable, welcoming tap rooms that are proliferating around Ohio. In a strip mall with plenty of parking, this place had a long bar, a few tables, and a side room with a TV and board games. He had a dozen of his beers on tap in a nice variety of styles, including some nitro taps. Samples, flights and growler are all available. Definitely worth a stop on your Akron/Canton beer tour.