Franklin Fjord Norwegian Ale
2SP Brewing Company

Par for my goofy course - I was focused on beers from Sterling Pig (Media, PA) & 2SP (Aston, PA), initially thinking that they were in the same city! Aston is only six (6) miles from Media, which my have led to my CANfusion, but I spent the day alternating between the two. I am CANtinuing to run through my backlog of 2SP beers at this point as brewed by my old buddy, "Big" Bob Barrar of 2SP. Bob & I go WAY back, to when he was apprenticing under his brother-in-law, Jim CANcro, at Red Bell. "Big" Bob really is big, a giant of a man with a Russian Cossack-like black beard. He is like our Lt. Gov. Fetterman - security? Who needs security? I AM security! What happened to "Big" Bob after Red Bell quit ringing? He only went to work at Iron Hill (Media) where he became their most-medaled, especially at GABF, ever! Now, you know the rest of the story.

From the CAN: "Made with Raspberries, Juniper & Honey"; "[Brewed to commemorate the] 'Vikings[:] Beyond the Legend Exhibit [at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia]"; "Everything We CAN't Drink, We CAN".

I added it as a Sahti due to its inclusion of juniper & that meant that cloudiness, turbidity & other such is allowable. Toward that end, I did some in-CAN agitation before Crack!ing open the vent & beginning a slow, gentle C-Line Glug. Man, did it ever want to foam! I had two-plus fingers of soapy, foamy, rocky, off-white head before I could even blink. I backed off & allowed it to settle, which it did very quickly, becoming mere wisps as quickly as it had appeared. 8=( Color was a deeply-hazy/lightly-cloudy Amber to Deep-Amber/Light Copper (SRM = > 9, < 13). Nose had a powerful raspberry & … something fruity or berry-like, but I could not identify it. I am sure that it was the juniper. Mouthfeel was thin-to-medium, not watery, but not evincing a lot of depth. either. The taste was easily identifiable as raspberry & honey plus …? The juniper was kind of an unknown quantity to me since I have not had gin in years, but I am sure that is what accounted for a sharp herbal quality. Frankly, I was glad for it since otherwise, it would have been REALLY sweet. The raspberries were only lending a light tartness & the honey was a bit too sweet, but the juniper was keeping everything in check. I was a bit late in getting to this one as a part of my backlog, but it was perfect on a hot, humid Summer's day. The finish was slightly tart, very dry, highly refreshing & quite drinkable. I CAN only hope that they see fit to make this again. YMMV.