Confluence Brewing Company's Extinction Event series has reached its 45th batch, a New England-Style IPA the brewery frames as an ongoing, evolving answer to shifting hop trends. Every entry in the series shares a similar malt backbone, but each batch gets its own distinct hop lineup, a structure that fits a brewery that says it aims to release a new beer roughly every week.
According to Confluence, batch 45 is built with a softer body, sweeter profile, and low bitterness, a combination meant to let the hops do the talking rather than compete against a firm bitter backbone. That is a deliberate technique rather than an accident: pulling bitterness down lets a rotating hop bill read as fruit and aroma first, which is exactly the appeal of the New England style. The brewery frames the whole series as intentionally short-lived, encouraging drinkers to catch each batch fresh before the next one replaces it.
Extinction Event #45 releases Friday, August 14, on draft and in 4-packs at the Des Moines taproom, with distribution across Iowa beginning Monday, August 17.
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