Port Brewing Brother Levonian Saison
Brother Levonian Saison is a Farm House style beer brewed to celebrate the life of Dave Levonian. Our friend Dave was a husband, father, homebrewer and a very approachable guy. He was basically just one of the nicest guys you could ever meet. He passed away in 2008 at was too young of an age. Dave’s passing left a bunch of us looking for ways to celebrate his involvement in the community of brewers in San Diego. The one thing we all knew about Dave was that he loved Saisons...LOVED them. In this bottle, we have recreated one of Dave’s recipes in the hope of honoring the memories he left us. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this beer will go to a college fund that was created for Dave’s daughter. We thank you for supporting his legacy with each bottle.
3.7
154 reviews
San Marcos, United States
Community reviews
Tasted on 2/26/11 from a corked and caged 750mL bottle obtained in a trade. Pours cloudy orange with a thick and rocky white head that slowly recedes to rocky lace and leaves lacing along the inside of the glass. The nose is somewhat tart peach and apricot with the signature saison yeast spices, a bit of bread malt, and some candi sugar sweetness. The flavor is somewhat sweet with the candi sugar and fruit up front, with the fruit showing almost a bit of a stewed quality. The bread malt, and just a hint of vanilla peek in on the mid-palate, and there is some light bitterness and more of the tart fruits on the back. The body is medium with lively carbonation and a long pitted fruit and lightly bitter finish. This is a fantastic saison.
Courtesy of Mike. Bottle pours cloudy gold with a white head. Aroma is yeasty with notes of banana, peach, lemon, and a touch of funk. Flavor shows the same with additional notes of grass and white pepper. Overall body is moderate, dry, and somewhat spicy.
(750ml courtesy of Mike). Pours cloudy yellow with white head. Aroma of banana, yeast goodness. Taste is sweet with nice body. Nice.
Bottle. golden-orange colour with an off-white head. Aroma is fruit, berries, malt, spices. Flavour is fruit, berries, malt, yeast, spices, caramel. Nice beer.
Thanks to Kevin for sharing this!
A- Body is a murky, nearly opaque dirty golden hue. Pours with a 1-2 finger foamy white head.
S- Nose is that of a classic, very well done Saison. Lots of floral hops, some spicy yeast, a little bit of funk, and a hint of lemon.
T- Lots of floral hop flavor comes through initially with a load of spicy yeast and pepper. The finish is quite dry. Left to linger is a hint of lemon as well as an essence of spice and a lot of floral hop bitterness.
M- High carbonation and a body that is lightweight and rather dry.
D- This is an awesome hoppy, spicy saison. One that I wish I had available to me all of the time. Great example of one of my favorite styles!
Serving type: bottle
lots of bad funkiness. tastes like V8 from a tin can. i am assuming this is not typical, and must be a bad batch or bottle.
Bottled. A hazy golden beer with a thin tan head. The aroma has notes of spices, fruit, malt, and peaches, as well as lighter notes of yoghurt. The flavor is sweet with notes of malt, yoghurt, peaches, and lemon.
Bottle.Pours golden orange with white head.Aroma of yeast , spice ,malt ,caramel and some alcohol.Flavor is malty and spicy with a nice subtle yeast note.Medium body ,lively carbonation.Really nice saison with a lot of subtle flavors.
Bottle, 75cl corked. It pours a coarse, two-finger beige head over a slightly unclear golden body. Fruity, yeast nose with a whiff of funk, some alcohol blends in. Pleasant resiny, peppery hops too. The flavor has a faint funky touch, but is mostly fruity. Some yeast, spices and a chalky touch. Good bitterness in the end. Full-bodied and over-carbonated, slightly warming, at least much more warming than I would expect from a beer at 6.5%, but I guess there has been some fermentation going on in the bottle. A beer that is too warming and carbonated, but it’s tasteful and quenching, and a nice experience. 101008
Bottle at Funky 6. Pours hazy gold with a modest, off-white head. Fruit and malt nose with light spices and yeast. Fairly sweet flavor light bread and spice. Faint bitterness. Medium bodied with fairly effervescent carbonation. Finishes with mild fruit notes, dry and lightly bitter. Nice.
750mL bottle. Poured clear light-medium golden with a fluffy white head. The aroma picked up a hit of oxidation paired with sour floral notes and lemon rind.. underlying malts gave a little bready character, but were for the most part nondescript.. dry, earthy spices accented.. just OK. The flavor found the same bland malts at the core, joined by a pinch of honey.. sharper on the edges with sour lemon rind, white pepper, and coriander.. hot and cloying on the finish. Medium-bodied with prickly carbonation on the palate that clashed with the aforementioned sharp stuff.. didn’t come together well for me.
A: The pour is a very hazy straw color with a big white head on it.
S: There are a lot of fruit notes coming through on the nose. Some tropical fruits such as pineapple and mango, along with a solid citrus character. A nice mix of floral, yeast, and bread aromas as well.
T: Again, a lot of fruit comes through right off the bat. Pineapple, grapefruit, lemons, and mangos provide sweetness and a bit of a tang. A subtle spice note along with the usual bready malts.
M: The body is medium in nature with a moderate carbonation.
D: It seems I’ve been on a big saison kick lately, and seemingly with good reason. Another nice beer in this style that was easy to drink and very enjoyable.
750 ML Bottle from a trade I can’t remember @ this point-Cloudy golden color w/a moderate white head. Aroma’s of wheat & yeast. Flavors of wheat, yeast, some candied sugar, some spice/colander, maybe some light fruit. A little bit of a bitter hop bite to the initial flavor, but it mellows quickly. This was an easy drinking, enjoyable brew. Long full finish.
Pours a cloudy dark gold with a tall white head.
The aroma is a combination of fruit, spices, and funky Belgian yeast.
Sweet and spicy flavor.
Very smooth. Good Saison.
Bottle enjoyed at Lost Abbey.
Pours a hazy yellow with a white head. Aroma is esthers, coriander, spices, wheat, saison-y yeasts. Flavors of spices, coriander, grass, grapefruit zest, bananas, esthers, cloves, saison yeasts all come through brilliantly in this beer. Delicious Saison.
Light orange, white foam, meh retention, decent lace. Tart fruits on the nose, slight medicinal note. Dry, peppery, long lingering bitterness, fairly astringent.
Big thanks to Kevin for sharing this one!
A-pours a dark cloudy amber color with a light tan colored head.
S-the nose is pretty nice, light saison yeast aromas, plenty of citrus hops in there, apricot, mango, floral aromas, a nice light peppery spice to it in the finish.
T-the taste follows the nose, a lot of citrus and floral hops, mango, apricot, peach, typicall saison yeast flavors, with a hint of peppery spice to balance.
M-a medium body with a syrupy texture, slightly grainy on the palate with a nice carbonation to balance out the syrupy texture.
D-this is quite nice, plenty of citrus flavors to make it quite enjoyable with the nice saison farmhouse yeast and enough light peppery spice to balance.
Cloudy amber with a medium off white head. Malty aroma with yeasty and fruity notes. Flavour had malt, yeast, hops and spicy notes. Finished slightly dry and bitter.
A: Massive white cap sits atop a hazy golden body with some solid lacing as the head slowly receded.
S: Zesty lemon-orange-pear fruit base. Nice pepper spice, some bitterness. Not too much in the way of farmhouse funk.
T: Super clean flavors. The light, bright citrus notes play off the spicy pepper tone nicely. Light hop note in the back-end. Again, not particularly funky. Which is quite alright from time to time.
M: Light-medium body. Some zip in the finish. Massively crisp and refreshing. Alcohol isn’t noticeable.
O: By the end of the bottle the two-dimensional assault of citrus and spice left me a bit weary. Here is where the addition of some funk would have kept things perhaps a bit more interesting and balanced.
grownfool’s Even the postman knows what’s in those packages tasting. Bottle shared by grownfool. Hazy orange, white fine cover. Aroma is earthy, light spicy. Taste is light caramel, spicy esters.
Hazy brown pour with white head and lace. Light brown sugar, a bit of yeast aroma. Sour brown sugar, and a medium bitter. Medium bodied with good carbonation.
At grownfools tasting - Orange and slightly cloudy. Nice loose foamy head. Smells sweet, with some floral and winey notes. Flavor is a nice mix of fruity sweet, some white wine and some toasty, bready notes. Also some candyish flavors, too. Nice mix of flavors, leans toward the sweet end of the saison spectrum.
Pours an expected straw yellow with thick white head, lots of lacing and retention with a bit of a gush upon popping the cork. Aroma obvious of that wheaty belgian yeast, grass, hay, and citrus. Flavor matches well, but only makes for a refreshing, actually pretty boring, saison.
Bottle from City Beer in SF.
Pours hazy golden with a large lasting white head and good lacing.
Aroma is bready malt, Belgian yeast, spice, and green apple. Pretty good smelling.
Fairly flavorful with sweet bready pale malt, green apple, spices, funk, and yeast. A good but not great tasting saison.
Somewhat dry on the palate with medium body and lively carbonation.
Enjoyable overall but not a standout. Fairly drinkable beer.
Sampled in Buffalo as BQ2010 was nearing its end. Bottle. Pours a golden hazy body. Aroma has some fruitiness, ester, and wheat. Mouthfeel is medium with notes of farmhouse funk, fruity esters, wheat, yeast and a bizarre finish of tomatoes.
bottle thanks to bu11zeye. Poured a hazy yellow. Aroma was of ginger and cherry. Flavor was of ginger, lemon, and cherry. Good beer.
750mL bottle, purchased at City Beer Store. Pours a clear, dulled light-copper color; golden edges; fluffy, textured, medium-bubbled off-white head with solid retention and mixed-bubbled lacing; attractive pour, generally. The aroma shows a lot of tropical fruit, passion fruit, and strongly suggests dry-hopping to me; significantly aromatic hop aroma, honeyed malts and fruity sweetness surrounding it; if the Belgian sugar here was turned down just a touch, and all drier, the aroma would be incredible. Medium body: creamy texture in the mouth, fluffy carbonation, and medium-light acidity; there’s a persistent, oily honey character that permeates every part of this beer, but thankfully the similarly oily tropical and passion fruit (I know that passion fruit is a tropical fruit, but it’s most prevalent here) hop bitterness carries through as well; there are some lovely vanilla notes and pleasant esters present here (bananas, most certainly; hints of clove phenols and other things), but the sweetness is just, again, a touch too much for the style and for my palate. That’s really the only detracting point here: lovely honeyed and estery maltiness, the hop character is gorgeous, dry hopping hugely appropriate, and creamy texture throughout. Greater attenuation, por favor. Lasting finish of honey and vanilla-tinged esters, tropical fruits; a pleasantly balanced ending.
In short: An authentic feeling saison with a rustic and citrusy character
How: Bottle 750ml. Consumed about 9 months after the beer was released. This bottle sent to me by kegbear. Thanks a whole lot Craig.
The look: Cloudy golden orange body topped by a medium off-white head with medium retention
In long: Nose has some floral notes, some fruity (orange, citru) notes but it mostly is very rustic and bright. Not really wild/barnyard and certainly not funky, just dusty attic rustic with rusty notes. My first glass was too sharp and disappointing but the beer really took off from the second glass when I started to get some yeast. I recommend mixing the yeast before pouring. Some sweetness in the malts upfront with 2/3 honey and 1/3 sweet dessert fruity like kiwi or something like that. Taste is also rather citrusy, strong Saison yeast character, light coriander note, wild flowers, a tiny spicy/peppery note in the hops. Finish is mildly dry, mildly bitter. Carbonation is body is very lively and feels authentic Belgian. Overall sensation of drinking an improved version of Fantôme Dalmatienne. Excellent beer yet strangely I was hoping for a little more from this top-rated American Saison. And a noble cause too with part of the proceeds going to a college fund for the surviving daughter of Dave Levonian. Brew it more regularly and sell it in my neighbourhood and she will be driving to college in a Porche.
Bottle thanks to TheCheeseman. Pours a cloudy light orange with a small white head. Aroma of brett, lemon, citrus, light fruits, dry hops. Flavor of brett, citrus, sweet malt, light spices with a dry finish. Easy drinking saison, very nice! Great beer!
7/4/8/4/15 [3.8/5]
750 ml bottle from South Bay Drugs (San Diego, CA). Pours a pretty hazy golden orange, fiery, a huge beige bubbly head that cakes and laces well, well carbonated and good liveliness. Aromas are a wonderful tangerine rind, fruity and tart, with some nice grainy malts, a touch of dusty farmhouse, hay, and grass. A touch of Belgian spicey yeast, with some decent fruity esters, some delicate florals, but not a major factor. Initial is a fairly good bitterness from the rind, fruity and citric tangerine, a touch tart, with some light pepper and Belgian yeast working onto the palate, slight spice, grainy malts and hay edge in with some decent fruity esters. The tangerine rind is very prominent, tart and bitter with a big element from the rind oils. This beer is very nice, tasty and good balance on the palate, light spice and heavy tangerine rind influence, as the malts come in and provide a base. Tasty!