Confluence Brewing Company in Des Moines has a nice bit of house history behind their newest release. Back near the end of 2018, the brewery hit its 1,000th batch of beer and celebrated with its first hazy double IPA. They liked the result enough that they decided round numbers were overrated, and they have kept playing with the format ever since without waiting for another milestone to justify it. Batch 2432, arriving this Friday, is the latest chapter in that ongoing experiment.
This one is built on a yeast strain chosen specifically to push a fruit-forward profile, and it shows in the description: intense, sweet, fruity notes with citrus fruit, fresh berries, peach and passion fruit, all carried on a sticky malty body with a soft mouthfeel. The hop bill of Mosaic, Strata and Cashmere backs that up nicely, since all three are known for leaning tropical and fruity rather than sharply bitter. At 9.0% ABV, this is a beer with real weight behind that fruit character.
What comes through in Confluence's own description is a sense of a team still enjoying the process. They call it a collaborative effort that grew out of a single vision, and that homebrew-adjacent, let's-see-what-happens spirit tracks with a brewery willing to name a beer after its own batch number rather than dream up a flashier title.
Batch 2432 will be pouring in the taproom starting Friday, July 3rd, with 4-packs available to take home, and distribution across Iowa beginning the following Monday. For a hazy double IPA with this much fruit intensity, it is worth grabbing a can early rather than waiting.
If you like your double IPAs loud, juicy and a little indulgent, Batch 2432 looks like it delivers exactly that. Sometimes the best beers really do come from a brewery just having fun with the hops and seeing where it lands.