Have you ever had one of those weekends where you determine that your liver is evil and must be punished? That was us last weekend. Between game days Saturday, Nathan's sort-of reunion Saturday night, and the beer festival Sunday, our livers are still revolting against us. The best part of the weekend was that, while I was at home watching "Brave" with my kiddo, Nathan went to his quasi-reunion (I'll let him explain that one further) in Delaware, about a half hour north of here. We have followed with interest the opening of Delaware's only current brewery and their subsequent first year and change of success. Alas, this is my first time trying their beer, as we just haven't made it to Delaware as often as we would like.
Staas was started by a husband and wife team who had a great passion for homebrewing. They sold their house in Columbus and risked everything -- their life savings, the kindness and graciousness of family and friends, their street cred as homebrewers, etc. -- on opening a brewery in Delaware. Theirs is a story I love. Staas has grown quite a bit of the year-plus they have been open, and they have branched away from the more comfortable styles (they currently have a cinnamon basil saison on tap, and they do a juniper ale that sounds fantastic). Also, if you are looking to alleviate some fog on a Sunday morning, you can head over to Mingo Park around 11:00 and play flag football with the brew crew.
I sent Nathan off with a growler Saturday. He showed up at home with their 2x IPA, which was well sealed with, wait for it, bacon tape. It hands down wins for packaging alone. Also, it should be noted that they do fill other establishments' growlers. OK, enough rambling, I'm dying to try this beer.
The 2x IPA pours a deep amber color that is opaque fresh out of the fridge. After my loquaciousness above, some of the chill haze has abated, but it's still more cloudy than translucent. Even after nearly three days in the fridge, there is still a collar of off-white head sitting atop the beer. (Note: Kyle from Barley's mentioned over the weekend that a well-sealed growler will keep in the fridge for 60 days without compromising the beer. That was a first for me, but good information for times like these.) The aroma on this is rather faint, but I pick up notes of orange, toffee, caramel, grapefruit, and pine. Taking a sip, I pick up on citrus, caramel, earthiness from Cascade hops, and that all fades out to a slightly boozy finish of almost macerated oranges and perhaps a bite of peppercorn. Occasionally the faintest hint of lychee will make an appearance, but not nearly often enough for my taste (that is a purely personal preference). This clocks in at 8.7% ABV, so I'm a bit surprised at the bite from the alcohol; most 10% DIPAs don't taste of this much booze. The mouthfeel on this is well-rounded and a bit sticky, which is not unexpected from a brew with this alcohol content. Overall, I'm a tad disappointed. I was hoping for a hop bomb, and this is more of a well-balanced malty DIPA with acceptable hop presence, but nearly enough for my liking.
4/5 caps
-Jennie
So, as Jennie mentioned, this was a liver wrecking weekend. 15 solid hours of drinking on Saturday in 2 different counties proved to not fare well the following day. But in this 15 solid hours of drinking, there was a stop off at Staas. The quasi-ten-year-reunion was at a bar in Downtown Delaware, a block away from Staas. I'd prefer not to talk about some of the shenanigans that were had, in order to save the guilty parties any shame or agony, but let's get to Staas. It's a small place that, if memory serves, was a small law office, across the street from the funeral home. The joys of a small town, eh?
Regardless, after some drinking and football at home, and drinking and shooting pool at another bar, it was time for drinking and in-depth conversation. My friend has been going to Staas nearly every Friday for a year. She hyped up the place to where instead of a 'destination spot i already wanted to hit', it became a 'this is going to fucking happen'...
As I said earlier, Staas is a small place. A few tables, a bar and a game room; maybe seating for 40-50 people. There's a little gated-off patio out front where about another dozen can sit and enjoy their night, pairing their vices of libations and smoking cigarettes or cigars (as Ohio has a statewide ban of smoking in bars, well, any public building). They have some amazing woodwork that was done by the owners, a gorgeous stained glass window, and about 10 beers on tap at any given time. With them being a small brewery, when they blow a keg of somethings, there's no guarantee they have another keg of the same variety in the back (according to said friend who frequents the venue).
So here we are, Tuesday night. (well technically Wednesday morning now). We have a couple of friends over, sharing emotionally scarring moments that happened last summer... fuck... now I drink. I remember this was mentioned as being 9.4% on the wall, but I could be confusing this with one of their other high test beers (I had a flight of their DIPA, Cinnamon Basil Saison, Oktoberfest, and Belgian Golden before ordering their Pale Ale. The Belgian Golden and DIPA were high test). So I now sit down an actually give a full review of this. While sitting there at Staas, I gave it a 5 star rating on Untappd, with a caption of "Getting a growler.... this is gooooooooood"... So, that was on a day where my senses were dulled from copious amounts of alcohol. As of now, this has a rich amber color. The aroma is toffee and caramel heavy with some faint citrus and tropical notes. The flavor is interesting. it's a nice, balanced DIPA. It has the malt flavors you picked up in the nose, then there's some orange and grapefruit that pop in. There's some bitterness that makes an appearance toward the back as the previously mentioned flavors fade and some light tropical fruit notes come through. There are some earthy tones that show up randomly throughout. The finish on this is slightly sweet with a faint stickiness to it, like a Sugar Daddy (yeah, you remember those?)... Well, not that sweet, but, damn, I want a Sugar Daddy... or Sugar Babies...
There's also a booziness about it that makes you realize that as you're typing, you're not really sure if your typical modified stream-of-conscious meets Gonzo-style writing will work for this review. You start realizing with each sip, there's a growing disdain toward home improvement shows. Sweet merciful Jesus, this has a good amount of alcohol, which makes it worth the $23 growler fill. Jennie initially thought that was a lot for a growler, but doing math this morning in a sleepy state, I realized that at Staas, drinking per pour, it would cost between $32 and $37 for the same amount of ounces you'd get in a 64 ounce growler (only because I can't remember the price per pour). You also feel the sense that you're starting to ramble and should end this before things end poorly for all parties involved. This is a different rating than when my palate was wrecked. It's good, I want to try their beers when I haven't been drinking heavily all day (to get a full profile of each). I will be returning to Staas, and hopefully here soon.
4.2/5 caps
-Nathan-
Music pairing: Green Day, "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)"
Cheese pairing: Dill Havarti
Food pairing: Chile Rellenos
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