| Levante Brewing Company 208 Carter Dr, Suite 2 West Chester, PA 19382 www.levantebrewing.com |
On Saturday, August 8, 2015, Levante Brewing Company in West Chester, PA held their official Grand Opening. The event included music, food, games, brewery tours and, of course, an impressive lineup of brews.
Levante is the Italian word for rising and this serves as the foundation of their philosophy. The brewery infuses Old World, Mediterranean values of hand-crafted, locally-sourced artisan product with an appreciation for modern ideas and tastes.
You can learn more about the story of Levante on our podcast Episode 51, when we sat down with co-founders Tim Floros and Eric Santostefano last November.
The Opening Day event was a smashing success, and the folks at Levante deserve nothing less. Brewer and co-owner Jim Adams told us they invited around 300 people on social media to attend the event, but the crowd on the day numbered over 800.
With a family friendly atmosphere, the event included food from Fresh Truck “The Bistro On Wheels” and LuLu’s Cafe On the Go, as well as some Levante Beer-Infused Mustard (more on that in a bit). Acoustic covers of laid-back, summertime tunes were performed by Chris Lebrasso. And the tap list was surprisingly extensive, including Levante Solid Ales such as…
- The Chief
7% ABV IPA - Pallido
5.5% ABV ABV Pale Ale - Norseman
4.5% ABV English Ale
- Bianco
5% ABV Belgian Wit - Daily Driver
4.9% ABV Session IPA - Ranger
6.5% ABV Rye Ale
…as well as a few special offerings. The team at Levante are wonderful, they truly give their all to ensure, not only that their product is the best it can be, but also that they support the community in any way possible. This passion shines through in their beers, every single one is truly delicious.
Another highlight of the day was sampling some Motley Mustards infused with Levante’s The Chief IPA. Run by husband and wife team Joe and Kate Meadows, this beer-based mustard outfit began with a sampling at a book signing that was met with rave reviews. Motley Mustards is based just next door to the brewery and will continue to serve tasty snacks to compliment Levante brews.
We also got a chance to take a quick tour of the brewery, led by Jim Adams. Jim discussed the brewing process and explained how Levante approaches the craft.
Two pieces of info stood out from the tour. One, they are not afraid to dump a batch of bad beer. As an example, Jim presented a keg from a batch that had a mild off flavor due to a process issue and will never see the light of day. The second is that they plan on bringing in a mobile canning unit in the fall to can The Chief IPA. Definitely keep your eyes out for that.
You can experience a virtual tour of the brewery’s 15 bbl system in our video tour, which was shot before the system had even been used.
One last exciting bit of upcoming news, Tim told us that they have a brew made with local Deer Creek Malt as well as Cascade hops also grown at the Glenn Mills, PA malthouse. A truly local beer, the appropriately named Glen Mills Mild will be available in a couple weeks. If you’re still in the video-watching mood, we also filmed a tour of Deer Creek, Pennsylvania’s only craft malthouse, in which you can learn about the malthouse and the malting process.
If you missed the Grand Opening of Levante Brewing, you missed a pretty awesome time. But, not to worry, you can swing by the taproom on Fridays from 4pm to 10pm and Saturdays from 11am to 10pm. It is more than worth the trip. So, head to Levante, try their excellent beer, meet the awesome people and take a growler home for later.
