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There's this trend in the craft beer world that's been going on for a while now, but just seems to have caught the attention of the mainstream beer consumer and that's fresh hop beers. These are beers brewed with, as the name implies, hops that are freshly picked and dropped into the brewing process before given a chance to dry out, making for a floral, aromatic and overall delectable beer. The downside? The beers are typically made in small quantities and don't last as long due to the brewing process.

So when something like the Lantern Tap House's Third Annual Fresh Hop Festival rolls around, you should hop (pun!) on the opportunity to taste as many as you can. The festival, which is now underway until 10 pm and runs again tomorrow (4 to 10 pm) and Saturday (noon to 10 pm), is housed in a tent outside the South Perry Street pub and features an impressive 29 beers from 23 different breweries on tap. Here's the list the Lantern provided us with.

Iron Goat, River City, 12 String, Laughing Dog, NoLi, Double Mountain, Paradise Creek, Ninkasi, Perry Street Brewing, Hale’s Brewery, Ecliptic, Breakside, Beer Valley, Wallace Brewing, Trickster Brewing, Laurelwood, Oakshire, Hopworks Urban Brewery, Full Sail, Sockeye, Payette, Big Sky, and Base Camp.

And, remember, this is probably your only chance to taste the bulk of these beers. I've tasted a half dozen or so fresh hop beers from Northwest breweries so far this season and — let me tell ya, kids — it was a good year for hops.

There's live music tonight and Friday night, in case the beer along wasn't reason enough to get your tastebuds down to the festival.