Dela... where? - Part 2

We actually got rolling pretty early on Sunday morning and made it to our first stop, Stitch House, for brunch. This part of town seemed extremely quiet at this time of day, which I reckon was somewhere around 10:15 a.m. Brewslut suggested that it was likely due to the nearby University of Delaware still being on holiday break. Perhaps everyone was at church. Either way, the streets were relatively calm and collected.

Our view at Stitch House.

It was still a little early, so rather than a beer we opted for coffee with our brunch. We hadn't had any yet, and we're typically two cups in before we get to our first brewery of the day. The brunch menu was small and heavy on carnivore-friendly dishes, so we decided to go pescatarian with smoked salmon bagel sandwiches and breakfast potatoes. The food was damn tasty, and gave us a nice base on top of which to pour a few beers.

I was excited to see a Rauchbier on tap named Dumpster Fire. What a great name for a smoked beer! This one turned out to be light-bodied and very approachable for the style with a nice balance of smoke and sweet. I won't continue to bore you with musings about smoked beers. Either you love 'em or you hate 'em. I'm definitely in the minority... kind of like a non-stoned fan at a Phish concert. So one beer in and we were off to a good start!

Up next, I decided to take a chance with Coconut Pete's Porter . In my experiences, beers brewed with coconut have been all over the map. I also really have to be in the mood for a coconut beer. Well, this morning I was in fact craving a dark, silky beer with chocolate, coffee and/or coconut. Turns out it was a sound decision because this might be one of the best coconut beers I've had. Seriously, this one kind of surprised me. I wasn't expecting it to be that good. I mean, it wasn't mind-blowing in its complexity; it was just an extremely well-executed beer. The toasted coconut flavor was on-point and didn't overpower the beer. It also didn't have that fake, medicinal coconut flavor you find in some beers that take shortcuts and use extract. The bartender said that despite all of the work they did preparing and toasting the coconut, the flavor was extremely subtle. Well, subtle to me equals perfect. This one was just perfectly balanced with a creamy mouthfeel that I always want to encounter with a porter. Beautifully done, Stitch House!

Pleeps' new friend, Coconut Pete!

We decided to share a pour of the appropriately named Russian Imperial Stout, Drago. Not only is this an amazing name for a RIS, but it also had a subtitle of "I Must Break You," which is like one of about 4 lines spoken by the antagonist, Ivan Drago, in the movie Rocky IV. I was obsessed with the Rocky franchise after seeing the first two movies broadcast on television when I was a kid, and went to see III and IV in the theater. The original Rocky is still one of my favorite movies of all time, and I can't get through the final scene without crying like a little bitch. Yes it's true... I'm a sensitive guy. I know, right?! 

To be honest, I can't believe this place was virtually empty while we were there. When we arrived, there were maybe 3 people in there, and when we left there was one guy at the bar besides us. Our brunch was excellent, our server was one of the best we've encountered in recent memory, and the beers were all fantastic. So this was a bit of a head-scratcher for me, I'm afraid. I couldn't find anything wrong with this place. Stitch House is definitely worth a visit if you find yourself in Wilmington.

Next up was Wilmington Brew Works, the first production brewery in Delaware’s largest city since 1955. The brewery is situated in a 100-year-old building in the 9th Ward section of town, which originally housed a laboratory. I thought it looked like an old train station. The brewery takes pride in keeping the spirit of the building’s origins alive by creating innovative beers and ciders. The long, narrow taproom offers plenty of indoor seating, and there is also an adjacent outdoor patio and an events space, dubbed The Alamo Room, in the back. As a matter of fact, they were hosting some kind of private engagement party or baby shower while we were there.

The brewery has built a reputation among local beer drinkers with its NE-style IPAs, which are fermented with a cultivated wild yeast strain. They also have a penchant for fruited sours, which we'll delve into in a moment. Additionally, Wilmington Brew Works is the only brewery operating in the Delaware with an "alternating premise license." This allows them to also operate as a cidery and offer a line of hard ciders through the moniker Urban Orchard Works.

Speaking of fruited sours, we both landed on one after a quick perusal of the available offerings. I went with Par Avion - Raspberry Peach Bellini, a beer inspired by the Italian Bellini cocktail. This deep pinkish sour ale features peaches and raspberry puree to elicit a sweet but juicy tartness. I was enjoying it quite a bit, that is until I raised Brewslut's glass of  Par Avion - Pineapple Cream up to my nostrils. Yowza! I was about to embark on a trip on the Pineapple Express. This was Brewslut's beer of the trip, and I must admit it was pretty damn amazing. Loads of pineapple puree and hints of vanilla and coconut create a pina colada experience that will take you to the tropics. This beer was off-the-charts good!

Pleeps with a pair of Par Avions.

These two beers set the tone and enticed us to further explore its offerings, which were plentiful. I opted for a short pour of a beer called Teutonic Metaphysics. Described as a "Northeast Rye IPA," this hoppy beer incorporates German rye malt and pairs it with two unlikely hops varieties: Hüll Melon and Madarina Bavaria. Flavor-wise, this beer incorporates spicy floral notes with a touch of citrus and a distinct gritty, peppery rye malt finish. The beer is fermented with a house wild ale yeast strain to add further funky dimension to this complex beer.

By this time, we were enjoying our visit quite a bit, so I suggested sharing one final pour. After a pair of fruity sours and an IPA, it was time for something sweeter. Enter Nocturnal Indiscretion, the "Midnight Snacks - Chocolate Peanut Butter" edition. Turns out this beer is a chocolate peanut butter variant of the brewery's Belgian Rye Stout intended to capture the flavors of a favorite vending machine snack: chocolate peanut butter cups. I'm usually not one for peanut butter in my stout, but for some reason this one was calling to me. Perhaps the thirteen-year-old part of my brain (which accounts for a pretty big chunk of mine) likened this beer's name to "nocturnal emissions." Either way, I ordered a short pour for us to share. Pleeps loves peanut butter almost as much as he loves bananas, so sometimes we have to bow to his demands. Gotta keep the talent happy, right?

All in all, it was a great visit to Wilmington Brew Works. We were hoping to hit Twin Lakes afterward, but they were closed when we arrived despite getting there within the designated hours of operation. We even double-checked their actual web site and Facebook page, because we've gotten burned in the past relying on Google for up-to-date hours. So, another audible would soon come into play... but more on that in a bit.

Since Twin Lakes was a no-show, we headed over to the next stop on our itinerary, Bellefonte. Part of Wilmington's beer scene for the last three years, Bellefonte is named after the neighborhood of Wilmington in which the brewery resides. The small garage-like, dog-friendly taproom offers sixteen regular production beers. We were able to secure two seats at the tiny bar and set up shop for about an hour or so. Much of the wall space is adorned with colorful, modern character-type paintings of pop culture icons. I immediately noticed the Trailer Park Boys painting near the men's bathroom, so bonus points for that!

View from our vantage point at Bellefonte.

After checking out the available beers, I decided to place my bet on Pacific Pines, a West Coast IPA. Honey-golden with notes of citrus and pine, it certainly looked and smelled the part. Overall, it fell a little short, but only because I've had so many West Coast IPAs. I tend to weigh the little local guys up to benchmarks like all of the old-school California heavy-hitters such as Stone, Green Flash, Lagunitas, etc. Perhaps that's not a totally fair rule of thumb, but it's the way my palate works sometimes.

At no surprise to me, Brewslut opted for The Way She Gose Key Lime, part of Bellefonte's fruited gose series. Style aside, the name of the beer hearkens back to one of our favorite Trailer Park Boys episodes, "The Fuckin' Way She Goes," when Ray loses all of their strip club money at the VLTs (video lottery terminals) while meanwhile Ricky accidentally burns down Ray's trailer after leaving French fries cooking on the stove. This one boasted much of the classic goes flavors of wheat bread, lactic acid and salt, while the key lime flavor was present but not dominant. Not too bad was our consensus.

While we were there, we sampled a few others but nothing really jumped out and enticed us to dig deeper. Still, this is a cool, rough-and-tumble neighborhood brewery with a lot of character and cool people to boot.

With some extra time due to the Twin Lakes faux pas, we decided to pay a visit to West Chester's Levante, a brewery we'd first visited back in June 2018. Levante opened its doors in August 2015, and has earned its place among the burgeoning Philly-area craft beer scene. The Italian word "levante" translates to ‘to rise,’ which seems to echo the brewery's purpose of elevating the local community and craft beer experience via its beer. With 20 available taps, the small tasting room offers a variety of forward-thinking beers sure to please just about any palate. Though its primarily known for hazy IPAs and fruit-soaked sours, Levante also dabbles in barrel-aged creations and even has a line of hard seltzers branded under the "ReVibe" label. They even partner with local coffee roasters to develop collaborative blends through its "Rise to Roar" coffee project.

Once we settled in, it was time for a beer. As soon as I saw the description for Gran Gianduiotto, I was hooked. This 2018 vintage 11% ABV imperial stout features Ghirardelli cacao powder, lactose milk sugar, hazelnut, vanilla, and more than 70 pounds of Italian espresso from Gran Caffe L'Aquila, an Italian restaurant in Philadelphia. This was a great sipping beer while we just chilled out at the bar and reflected back on the weekend and some of our favorite beers. This was definitely one of the most memorable ones!

Pleeps is always ready to dive right in!

Meanwhile, Brewslut worked on a pour of Ambient Solstice, a sour IPA ripe with blackberry, blueberry, sweet and tart cherries, and plums as well as vanilla and almond. A variety of fruit-heavy hops complement the juicy yet tart flavors of the fruit additions. This one definitely teetered closer to the "sour" side of the spectrum rather than the "IPA" side. although I will say that this was one of the more unique and complex beers I've yet to experience that falls under this hybrid style, which is becoming a fast favorite of ours.

We also hit up the food truck for some vegetarian dumplings, egg rolls and fish tacos, courtesy of KOI on the Go. The food was hot, tasty, and reasonably priced, and the service was great, so no complaints there. We debated hitting up another brewery, but ultimately decided to set the controls for home and get in some couch time.

At the end of the day, it was a pleasant romp around Delaware, and we can add another nine places to our ever-expanding list of breweries we've visited. Until next time...