Victory Moving Parts Batch No. 02 – A First Sampling

I was really excited to receive a care package today from Victory featuring their latest (and greatest) Moving Parts release.  We brought you a peek at this beer and the official press release…and now here’s your first sampling.  This is Batch No 02 and for anyone that is not familiar with this series of beers, you’ll find it is unique.  Moving Parts is an Ever-Evolving IPA, and the brew team at Victory alters the balance of hops, yeast and malt to create a unique brewing and drinking experience with each batch.  The same basic IPA recipe is used each time, but after tasting the first two batches I can tell you that we’re in for an endless array of unique IPA’s….and if you love IPA’s like I do, this is great news.

Batch No 02 uses all English hops and English yeasts, and the beer pours a cloudy (but gorgeous) copper color with a clean white head.  The aromas were slightly herbal and slightly earthy with a really prominent and pleasant hop-forward aroma.  Because of the hop and yeasts used in Batch 02, the beer leaned toward a British-style IPA for me, and while that added in some malt sweetness up front, I really thought the balance and the brightness of the hops used really worked well.  As the beer warmed I started to pick out some sharper fruit and apple hop flavors, but the balance remained really solid.  Moving Parts Batch No 02 finishes dry and clean with just enough sweetness to make you want another sip.  I really enjoyed sampling this one, and it matched up nicely with the Cabot Extra-Sharp Cheddar cheese we paired it with.

Try this beer for yourself and be sure to let me know what you think.  Victory Moving Parts Batch No 02 will be hitting the shelves in Victory’s 35 state distribution in mid October (now) in 22oz bottles and on draft.  This version comes in at 7.1% ABV and the retail price should come in around $4.99 for a 22oz bottle so it’s a great beer and a great value. 

Use Victory’s Beerfinder to find it near you.