Victory Brewing Moving Parts IPA
The premise behind Victory Brewing’s new Moving Parts IPA isn’t necessarily a new concept. Brewers, for decades, have had to adjust recipes based on the ingredient availability. Usually this process is done out of need. Now, it seems, that companies are producing beers that intentionally change year to year, or batch to batch — local Virginia drinkers have Three Brothers Brewing tasty Hoptimization IPA as an example.
This particular batch of Victory Moving Parts IPA (Batch 01) uses five different whole cone American, English and Czech hop varieties accompanied by German malts. The result is a 7.1% ABV IPA that packs plenty of piney, leafy hop character into a beer with just enough balance to even everything out accordingly. Lively and refreshing, the first round of this brew is a solid start. It will be interesting to see where the brewery decides to take it with subsequent recipes.
Appearance
A slowly dropping, off-white cap of foam leaves behind a full ring above the clear, golden amber brew.
Aroma
Grapefruit, hints of mango and pineapple, fresh cut grass and pine fill the nose solidly as grain, toasted bread and a touch of earthy hop leaves follow.
Taste
The pine, grass and peppery hop traits show through more here as the citrus and fruit notes step back a touch. Grain, bready malt and a low level of sweetness rise to the occasion to balance out the earthy hop character. A moderate-to-high level of bitterness arrives smoothly and fades slowly though the drying and ever-so-warming finish. Moving Parts IPA is medium bodied with a crisp mouthfeel, giving it a refreshing quality.
Overall
So far so good with batch 01 of Victory’s Moving Parts IPA. The leafy, earthy quality that it brings is nicely balanced out with a good bit of bready malts. It’s not a hop bomb, nor is it packed with juicy fruit flavors, but I do like a beer with a well-rounded hop profile like this one has.
Rating: 3.75/5
This is a review of a promotional sample.
