Lantern Brewing is one of those tiny, one-person, nano-breweries that I thought I’d never get a chance to visit.  So when I saw Lantern announce an improptu open house as part of the Phinney/Greenwood Summer Streets outdoor block party program, I quickly searched for their street address, finished up the sampler flight I was enjoying at Reuben’s Brews, and was soon back on my bike, pedaling away and looking for the least steep route up to Phinney Ridge.  There was an considerable amount of family-friendly fun to be had in the several blocks of closed off street, but I headed directly to the brewery — gotta keep my priorities straight.

The beer lab at Lantern Brewing — Seattle, WA

Rob’s Picks
• Pale Ale – 5.5% – Crisp, dry, and light, but still malty and bitter. Interesting. I’m used to heavier pale ales.
• Witbier – 5% – Light and refreshing. A little apple-y. Fairly complex mouthfeel — bit of spiciness on the tongue. Really drinkable. Very clear, but Chris wants it to be cloudier.
• Abbey-Style Tripel – ~8% – Subtle banana/clove aroma. Subtle caramel and banana/clove flavors, with nice alcohol notes. Not the tripel I’m used to, but light and pure.
• Abbey-Style Dubbel – ~6.7% – Again, pretty light, but that helps balance the malty sweetness. Pretty crisp. Not the usual heavy dubbel.
• Stout – 5.5% – Alcohol aroma. Sweet alcohol/coffee/brown flavors. Pretty light and dry for a stout, but heavy flavor-wise. Pretty cool beer!

Lantern’s producing an impressively wide range of mostly Belgian-influenced beers on a very small system.  Hopefully Chris will be able to expand his capacity and increase access to his fine brews to more than the Phinney neighborhood stores, restaurants, and farmers’ market.  Then again, having such a neighborhood-centric brewery is pretty cool (although I’d prefer it if Lantern were in my neighborhood, instead…).