First Pitch is a strange beer. There, I said it. That being said, I feel like it needs a bit of an explanation so everyone understands where we are coming from and why we brew it. To do so, you need to rewind the clock a bit, back to the fall of 2013 in fact when we first released it.
First Pitch was our first real attempt at brewing a hoppy beer back when we were focused on producing only Belgian ales. We wanted to create something that was still true to who we were at the time but give everyone what they had been asking for: hops. So we married the two by brewing a very hop forward beer (more hops than we had used in any previous batch to date) with our house Belgian yeast in an attempt to take advantage of what both had to offer — the stone fruit character from the yeast and lots of those citrus focused hops that everyone was (is?) chasing after. Since then, we have refined it and the focus on Amarillo hops has shifted to Mosaic with an attempt to bring out more tropical fruit notes and less citrus/stone fruit to help create a more complex flavor profile. This has resulted in a very interesting combination of bubblegum and tropical fruit whereby the original First Pitch was very much light citrus, tangerine and orange marmalade. But the one thing that has remained constant is the large dose of rye malt we use to help create a fuller mouthfeel along with some spicy notes that complement the pepper and clove flavors that our house yeast also produces. The end result is a very complex beer from a flavor standpoint and the more you drink it the more you start picking out all of the various components that make up First Pitch.
So why the name then? We originally released this beer just as the Red Sox were entering the playoffs in 2013 and wanted to name the beer in a way that we thought would help everyone get pumped up for the divisional series. Well, the magic seemed to work and people kept coming into the tap room to get more of it with each game. I think we ran out by the time the World Series was wrapping up so the magic worked. We then started brewing it at various times during the baseball season when we thought the Sox needed the support. This year we brewed it at the beginning of the season as I think it fits better with the overall theme of the first pitch (or first game of the season) and I think the flavors are more in line with spring than fall. Plus, we have another more season appropriate baseball focused beer for the fall now (34).
So pick a 4 pack up now and get ready for what should be an exciting season with the Red Sox. Only 9 days left until opening day! — Idle Hands Owner and Founder Chris Tkach
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