Today’s Thirsty Thursday beer painting is of Summit Hop Necessity IPA by Levante Brewing Company of West Chester, Pennsylvania. I painted this live at the brewery. Levante (La•vant•tay) is a relatively new brewery, having just completed its first year producing craft beer. Finely crafted beer it is, too. The brewery’s tagline is “Elevate your Craft,” which these guys are doing. Sounds like they are expanding their craft as well. I heard from an inside source that the place is growing and may be getting a bottling/canning line. But that is mere speculation. Growth for Levante is eminent, however, just where it is going, I don’t know.
Getting to Levante in West Chester was easy, I just hopped in my buddy’s car at Tired Hands in Ardmore, and he drove me there via McKenzie Brewhouse. Getting back to Mt. Airy via SEFTA before my hosts went to bed on a work night was a bit more trying. I started my journey at Side Bar in West Chester at 7:00 PM. I considered having a meal as I had been tasting beer all day, but felt full of good cereal grains, and opted to just hammer home. According to Google Maps I could do it in just about two hours. It is only about 40 miles. Unfortunately, the way SEFTA works doesn’t make it easy to go from one neighborhood to another. It is set up to get you in and out of the City Center. Busses require exact change. Trolleys have to be payed in advance. On the regional line, the big trains, you pay the attendant. I learned all of this by blundering along. I got on the first bus, and even though it said there was only one stop from West Chester to 69th Street station, it was more like 49 stops. Little to say, I sounded like an idiot when I asked if we were there yet after only one stop. The bus driver informed me 69th Street was the end of the line. An hour later I was figuring out that the icon on Google Maps that looked like a bus was actually a small train called a Trolley. It is a good thing it came every 10 minutes, because I missed the first one. The Trolley from 69th Street to 30th Street in City Center was a little bit sketchy. The gangsta-looking dudes riding the train looked at me with respect cause of my huge beard. I was thankful for my beard the whole time, actually. Since I missed the first trolley, my regional train wasn’t coming for 40 minutes. I realized I wouldn’t get to Mt. Airy until 10PM. Oops, kind of late on a work night for my hosts. I booked it from the station to the house in Mt. Airy and arrived just in time to have a delicious bowl of frozen bananas! Would not have been good to set off the alarm had I gotten there just a few minutes later! So the word is that public transportation is good in Philadelphia, but West Chester is a long ride away from Mt. Airy!
Elevate Your Craft, and expand your horizons! Take a train home, because it’s the small adventures in life that make it great!
This original oil painting, and 52 limited-edition prints are for sale at my Etsy shop RealArtIsBetter.
Thirsty Thursday Beer Painting #92 by Scott Clendaniel. September 29, 2016. Summit Hop Necessity IPA by Levante Brewing Co., 8″x10″, oil on panel.
Real Art Is Better! 