Franklin’s Latest Beer: One V-Day Special That Makes My Heart Flutter
Remember what I was saying last month about never attending a restaurant during Valentine's Day? Well, I'd like to amend that position: Before the wife and I settle down for a home-cooked meal on Saturday, we'll definitely drop by Franklin's Restaurant, Brewery and General Store in Hyattsville.
On Valentine's Day, Franklin's in-house brewer Charles Noll will be tapping a firkin of raspberry triple that he's made just for the occasion. Maybe fruit-forward beer isn't your thing (it's not really mine) and maybe drinking a pink beer doesn't jibe with your manly self-image (or even your image of a regular beer drinker).
But I'll tell you what: I love the idea of Noll tackling an Abbey ale, which is one of the great beers of Belgian. I haven't tasted all of Noll's work over the years, but I recall that he tends to lean toward heavily hopped ales and massive stouts. This triple will be worth sampling for the sheer novelty, even with the stupid raspberries!
6:13 pm
Since you are such a nitpicker about details such as what constitutes "real" Mexican food, it behooves you to note that no self-respecting brewery - Trappist, Belgian, or otherwise - would ever call a beer spiked with fruit a trippel. Also, I would hardly call this tackling, the real challenge would've been to make a good, drinkable trippel without the aid of fruit.
6:22 pm
I agree. It will be interesting to see if you can make out the triple's characteristics through the raspberries.