The rumor of wine and its culture is that it’s a bunch of snobs fawning over some dumb old grapes. A misconception about college students is that they are an unruly bunch that get just sober enough to go pick up beer from the carry-out. Blurry-eyed and stumbling, they reach for the nearest case of Natty Light and head back to whatever dark and loud hole they crawled out of. But at Stimmel’s market on Wooster, Street the two crowds combine twice a week for a cultured night of beer and wine tasting. Thursdays and Saturdays, Co-Managers Michael Gregg and Sara Evans bring a love for all things alcohol to this community-oriented event, where they sit back and watch neighbors, students and faculty reconnect. And often, they teach. Last night the pair led a ‘blind-tasting’ – seven bottles of wine and beer sit in brown sacks. Each person is handed a sheet of paper and a sample of their choosing. The paper lists all of the wines offered that evening in a sort of word bank, and these grape gurus put their senses to the test. Evans sounds like a chipper sommelier, a fancy name for’ a wine expert, when she tries to explain the flavors. ‘South America has an undertone of green pepper, while South Africa has tar and asphalt in their soil, giving it that special, kind of weird taste,’ she said. And the managers of Stimmel’s say in recent trends, a younger, yet still over 21, crew has started to show in an interest in the past couple years. What those who are just above age may not know is more alcohol exists in a bottle of $10 wine than in a can of beer. Usually an eight ounce can of beer has around 4 percent alcohol, while a 750 milliliter bottle of wine can uncork 12 to 16 percent. First timer Tony Eyre, 23, has always been eager to attend the event but hadn’t because of the intimidation of an upper-crust bunch. For Eyre, all seven samples – generous samples – of wine was a task that seemed daunting. ‘I don’t think I’m gonna make it to seven,’ he said. ‘I’m a light-weight, don’t tell anybody.’ Although campus instructors regularly visit the family-owned market, a few didn’t want to admit they were drinking and employed by the University at the same time. Not on the clock, they were nervous to give their names. ‘We just try to stay local and support the local businesses. Why would we drive to Toledo?’ the two anonymous women said. Some plunge their nose into their glasses to get a hard whiff of the complex ingredients. Others drink like Tony Eyre. Gulping down glass four, he reached his early evening limit. ‘This is a lot more low-key than I thought. It would be a great place to take a lady,’ Eyre said. The market has been doing the tastings since it opened almost four years ago. Even when some customers are penny-pinching more than ever, the affordability of their niche product keeps their managers confident in the clientele. Soon, Stimmel’s will move to ‘guerilla advertising’ in more student-friendly areas. ‘Our problem for getting the students here is our location’ – it’s so far down the road from campus,’ Manager Michael Gregg said. And that could separate the binge drinkers from those who just drink to enjoy a night with their friends; to sit and simply sip.