Have you ever watched March Madness NCAA basketball and wondered why they don’t have a similar competition for beer?
Well, you’re not alone.
The folks over at Brewing News are conducting a National IPA Challenge, a competition pitting 128 IPAs from across the country in a head-to-head style match-up similar to March Madness for college basketball.
Several panels of brewers will blindly evaluate the beers and pick a winner from each round.
They’re inviting people to fill out brackets, picking which IPAs they think will survive and advance. The best bracket wins a case of the 2011 champion beer.
Of course, Washington is well represented in the competition.
Seventeen different breweries from the state will be taking part in the competition, including three local breweries. Everett’s Lazy Boy Brewing and Diamond Knot Brewing Co. of Mukilteo entered their IPAs into the competition, while Flyers Restaurant and Brewery, out of Oak Harbor, entered its Hop Duster IPA and Afterburner IPA.
The deadline for your picks is 9 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 13. The NIPAC starts on Feb. 13 in Buffalo, N.Y., and then continues weekly up until the Final Four on March 5 in Philadelphia, Penn.
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