Cranky Reviews

Flutterball

Beer Type

15 to 20

15 to 20

Super Suds

Rating

Flutterball

Flutterball

Left Field Brewery

5% Alcohol

Flutterball for Sure

Tossin’ the old ball around with my grandson, he can swat a gramps flutterball like gangbusters. In baseball vernacular, a flutterball is another name for a knuckle ball, a pitch with a mind of it’s own and no clear trajectory. A good one can baffle the most accomplished batter. A bad one, like mine, has over the fence postage prepaid all over it. Left Field must be thrilled that the boys of summer are back, and we aren’t talking about a Don Henley song. Just like the Boss, tossin’ the ball around brings back baseball glory days, but I didn’t end up in center field like Fogerty.* Yes, Blue Jays, baseball, and the obligatory ball park brews and bratwursts.

So is this Flutterball going to throw us a curve? Right out of Left Field and into my glass. Time to step up to the plate for a swig. It pours pale, much paler than many pale ales which aren’t wheat beer pale. A not whiter but a paler shade of pale.** A juicy tropical aroma, citrus with some ball field berries perhaps? The first swig is fruit muted by malt, with a touch of fizz. An odd combo, perhaps interesting is a better word, because odds are often not in our favour. At first I wasn’t sure if it was working or working to rule. It’s certainly not hoppy, and has nothing to be bitter about.

Time for a double play, and second swig has this settling into almost a session juicy IPA style with fruit putting the malt in its place.  A nice light pale ale, easy drinking, refreshing, and without a doubt a good brew on a hot summer day watching the Blue Jays beat the Yankees.

 

*Editor’s Comment: “The Boys of Summer” was a 1984 hit for Don Henley, formerly of Eagles fame. Written by Henley and Tom Campbell of Tom Pettty’s Heartbreakers, Tom Petty passed on the song because it didn’t fit the record they were working on at the time. “Glory Days” is a 1985 release from Bruce Springsteen. “Centerfield” is a 1985 song by John Fogerty, his first song and album in 10 years after Creedence Clearwater Revival.

**Editor’s Comment: Procul Harem released the song “Whiter Shade of Pale” on their debut album in 1967. The song is one of the most successful singles in music history and is still regularly played on both AM and FM stations around the world.

Final Rating: No Curves Thrown at 15 out of 20

Beer Type

15 to 20

15 to 20

Super Suds

Rating

Other Info

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