Lamplighter Brewing Co. Plans Menu for Cambridge Taproom

Lamplighter Brewing Company. / Photo by Cayla Marvil

Lamplighter Brewing Company is one of a few new companies bringing fresh beer to the greater Boston area this year, and in a new blog post this morning, cofounder Cayla Marvil shared they’ll also have fancy hot dogs and tater tots.

“We’re going American with this beer hall,” Marvil writes.

She shared several potential menu items, including a bleu cheese chicken dog with Frank’s RedHot, shaved carrots and celery; a Thai pork hot dog with spicy peanut sauce, cilantro, hot mustard, and crushed Fritos; tater tots with white cheddar sauce, pickled jalapeños, and scallions; and sweet potato tots with Sriracha aioli and bacon crumbles.

The team is building relationships with local farmers to share their spent grain and hops for animal feed, in exchange for humanely raised meats to supplement the dogs. “So yes—this means our hot dogs (known to the hip kids as ‘hop dogs’) will have been raised on our brewery byproducts.”

They also hope to carry packaged snacks, like Biena chickpea snacks and Slantshack Jerky.

Marvil, a French Culinary Institute graduate (it’s now the International Culinary Center), has held numerous kitchen positions in the northeast, including at Crossroads Café at Middlebury College in Vermont and at Carlton Park in Brooklyn.

“I’ve always enjoyed making (and eating) funky hot dogs, so it was quite exciting when [cofounders] Tyler [Fitzpatrick] and AC [Jones] agreed to let me have free reign of the taproom menu,” she says.

The City of Cambridge approved Lamplighter’s pouring permit this week, Marvil says, which, pending state approval, allows them to pour fill pints once they’re open. In addition to at least six beers on tap every day, they will serve coffee and tea.

The city also OK’d food service and recorded entertainment. The 1,500-square foot taproom will accommodate just over 70 people, and there will be board games, weekly trivia, and special events, including collaborations with local organizations, artists, and potentially other beverage producers, she writes.

“Overall, we want to create a neighborhood spot that’s comfortable, friendly, and fun. We want this to be a place where you can hang out, watch the brewing process, learn what we’re all about, and taste our beers,” she says.

Lamplighter has tested a wide variety of brews, and the company narrowed down their general style to be yeast-focused, Marvil shared in another post. “Expect to see lots of 100% Brett fermented beers, as well as lots of wild yeasts, spontaneous fermentations, yeasts isolated from fruits, and more traditional brewing yeasts used in non-traditional ways,” she says. “However, don’t take this to mean that we’re looking to be totally out there and unapproachable.”

They plan to have two flagships for “wide distribution:” a New England-style “juice bomb” IPA fermented entirely with brett yeast; and an amber ale/Belgian strong hybrid “which is loaded with stone fruit, plum and dark malt flavors, and has hints of nut and spice.”

Construction is well under way at the former autobody shop, with equipment arriving next week. Marvil anticipates the first kegs of Lamplighter beer rolling out in May, with the taproom debuting in June. It will be open Tuesday-Sunday from 11 a.m.-12 a.m.

Lamplighter Brewing Company, opening this spring/summer at 284 Broadway, Cambridge; lamplighterbrewing.com.