Pinball
Two Brothers Brewing Company

PinballPinball
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From:
Two Brothers Brewing Company
 
Illinois, United States
Style:
American Pale Ale
Ranked #734
ABV:
4.9%
Score:
85
Ranked #20,226
Avg:
3.79 | pDev: 10.03%
Reviews:
39
Ratings:
156
Status:
Active
Rated:
Jan 07, 2024
Added:
Jan 31, 2017
Wants:
  4
Gots:
  46
From the moment Pinball is shot out of the can, this Pale Ale takes your taste buds on a flavorful ride. Bounced between bumpers of tropical and citrus fruit, Pinball perfectly rides the rail between hoppy and sweet.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
 
Rated: 4.1 by soarinsteven from Illinois

Jan 07, 2024
Photo of cyclonece09
Reviewed by cyclonece09 from Wisconsin

3.93/5  rDev +3.7%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Poured from a can into a pint glass. Pours hazy orange yellow with a fluffy white head. Smells of fresh citrus with some tropical fruit notes. Tastes of citrus and tropical fruit, a very nice combination. Beer is light bodied and easy drinking, good carbonation. Overall, a very good beer.
Dec 20, 2023
 
Rated: 3.73 by TwilightBeerCareer from Illinois

Sep 06, 2023
 
Rated: 3.5 by TMoney2591 from Illinois

Nov 29, 2021
 
Rated: 3.75 by n_william from Illinois

Jun 14, 2021
 
Rated: 3.99 by RFries33 from Wisconsin

Jan 26, 2021
Photo of TedHead
Reviewed by TedHead from Illinois

4/5  rDev +5.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
Pours a slightly cloudy gold with a fluffy white head that settles down after a minute or two. The nose has intense orange and grapefruit aromas with hints of mango and floral pine as well. The taste has a tropical mango flavor up front that fades into a citrus pine finish. It's crisp and finishes less butter than expected, but it's not sweet either. It goes down very easily. Overall a great APA.
Nov 23, 2020
 
Rated: 3.06 by rangerred from Tennessee

Nov 23, 2020
Photo of Rschis16
Reviewed by Rschis16 from Maryland

3.83/5  rDev +1.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
Slightly hazy bright orange with a pillowy white head, great retention. The aroma is bready with a big hit of tropical fruits like mango in the nose. Sweet candied aromas are the highlight of this nose. The taste features those juicy notes, big hits of mango shining through, definitely the main theme of this beer. Citrus hop notes hit strongly too. A lighter but biscuity body combined with peppery hop notes balance the sweetness pretty nicely. This one packs a pretty good amount of flavor into a sub 5% package and makes for a very enjoyable and easy to drink beer.
Nov 06, 2020
Photo of Parmesan
Reviewed by Parmesan from Colorado

3.52/5  rDev -7.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
L:. Pours a deep golden yellow with a small foamy white head and no lacing on the glass.

S:. Lots of hops forefront, including tropical hops which all kinda blend together and then some floral hops.

T:. Lots of earthy and weedy hops, a bit of pine and some fruity hops with a bit of floral hops, quite a bit of hops in this one.

F:. Light body, smooth carbonation.

O:. The hops all seem to blend together but a pretty solid pale ale.
Jul 11, 2020
Photo of woodychandler
Reviewed by woodychandler from Pennsylvania

3.59/5  rDev -5.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
Well, the morass of the past few days is finally behind me! The CANQuest's backlog is lighter, the reviews heavier, the reefer emptier & I am drunker. Well, the latter is kind of tough to quantify, but my tolerance must be sky-high by now. My county (Lancaster) is pushing to reopen in defiance of our governor's orders, so I am laying low & staying in even harder than before. This means increased opportunities to drink beer, especially since the backlog is still quite extensive. My next horizontal is of/from Two Brothers from Illinois. Either I got these in one of excursions or local, in-person trader @tone77 dropped them off at some point. Hmm.

From the CAN: "Special when lit."; "Pinball Juicy Hop Pale Ale"; "IBU[:] 31".

I got some fizzing & foaming through the vent when I initially Crack!ed it open, so I went into emergency Crack! & Glug procedures to get things back under CANtrol. I ensured that the tongue was fully disengaged, Glugged about a half-a-glassful & allowed it to foam on its own. I got two-plus fingers of dense, foamy, rocky, tawny head with good retention as a result. Color was an oh-so-faintly-hazy Amber (SRM = > 7, < 9). Nose was more citrusy than tropical with grapefruit & peach jumping out at me, followed by mango. Mmm. Mouthfeel was thin-to-medium, not watery, but just really, really soft. Hmm. The taste was decent, but to me, SNPA is the guide-on bearer for the style & this was nowhere close. Instead, it was quite fruity as advertised, but its low bitterness left me feeling unfulfilled. I remember liking their Blood Orange version, but this was more fruity than I would have preferred. I got mango, papaya, passion fruit & grapefruit, but it was too juicy-fruity for my taste. Finish was semi-dry on the cusp of semi-sweet. I just could not work up the necessary enthusiasm. YMMV.
May 12, 2020
Photo of Judgie
Reviewed by Judgie from Indiana

3.99/5  rDev +5.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Purchased from Costco in a Two Brothers variety case. Best By: 06/23/20. Poured into a pint glass. Rather murky golden but a huge head and lots of lacing. Smell is typical (to me) pale ale with citrus and tropical refreshment. Taste follows suit as flavors of lemon, orange, and grapefruit are all present but not overwhelming. Mouthfeel is light and also refreshing. Nice carbonation present throughout. A nice pale ale that I could buy regularly if available fresh.
Mar 30, 2020
 
Rated: 3.75 by cryptichead from Illinois

Oct 18, 2019
 
Rated: 3.85 by BalancingBrooms from California

Oct 01, 2019
Photo of tucson_brewson
Reviewed by tucson_brewson from Arizona

3.73/5  rDev -1.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
12 oz can poured into pint glass.

L - Pours a clear copper-amber color with a little less than an inch of off-white head that dissipates and leaves a thin lacing that sticks pretty well to the glass.

S - Tropical fruit, citrus rind, slight earthy hops, caramel malt, that slightly dank artificial sweet scent I can only equate to Juicy Juice.

T - Tropical fruit, tangerine, honey, Juicy Juice, sticky sweet up front with a slight bit of hoppy bitterness and an astringent alcohol bite towards the end but leans towards the sweeter side.

F - Light-to-medium bodied, moderate carbonation, slightly oily coating but finished smooth. Very drinkable.

O - This is the brewery that apparently bought Nimbus so I thought I'd give them a try. This is a good example of a very drinkable, malty-sweet-over-hoppy-bitter APA. I'd try it again.
Sep 29, 2019
Photo of jrpapajcik
Rated by jrpapajcik from Illinois

3.75/5  rDev -1.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
On tap @ Flo & Santos.
Aug 30, 2019
 
Rated: 4 by UrbanaSupernovA from Illinois

Aug 18, 2019
 
Rated: 4.35 by Payner19 from Illinois

Aug 06, 2019
 
Rated: 3.59 by nmann08 from Virginia

Jul 13, 2019
Photo of Wanzuki
Reviewed by Wanzuki from Illinois

4.52/5  rDev +19.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5
Just a wonderful IPA. Not too zingy, not too dull. A traditionalist would not call it well balanced, but that’s the traditionalists’s problem. It’s great.
Jun 08, 2019
Pinball from Two Brothers Brewing Company
Beer rating: 85 out of 100 with 156 ratings