The nominations are in and we got a lot of them. There were a total of 94 beers nominated for the tournament that broke at as follows:
- Eastern Division – 44
- Middle Division – 12
- Western Division – 18
- Import Division – 19
Because the Middle Division was light on nominations, we included the Illinois nomination in that group.
By far, the most nominations came from the Eastern Division with local Jacksonville Beers dominating the picks. Heavy hitter beers like Dark Lord, Heady Topper and Hunahpu’s, each scoring 100 out of 100 on RateBeer.com also grouped into the Eastern Division. But, the Western Division had a few top beers like Deschutes Abyss and Russian River Pliney the Elder make it on to the contestant list. The Middle division was the lightest with only 12 nominations, but among them are the coveted Bourbon County Stout beers. From across the pond, perennial favorites like Westvleteren 12 and Kasteel Rouge will be battling for a victory.
So without further ado, here are the beginning brackets seeded by their rating on RateBeer.com.
Eastern Division
Cigar City Hunahpu’s Imperial Stout (tie 1) vs. Spring House Brewing Big Gruesome (16)
Cigar City Jai Alai IPA (8) vs. Intuition Ale Works Underdark Imperial Stout (9)
The Alchemist Heady Topper (4) vs. DC Brau On the Wings of Armageddon (13)
Three Floyds Dark Lord (5) vs. Cigar City Good Gourd (12)
Founders Brewing Founders Breakfast Stout (tie 1) vs. New England Brewing Ghandi Bot (15)
Terrapin Wake-n-Bake Stout (7) vs. Intuition Dark Star Milk Stout (10)
Bell’s Hopslam (tie 1) vs. Cigar City Marshal Zhukhov (14)
Bell’s Two-Hearted (6) vs. Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA (11)
Middle Division
Note: Since there were only 12 nominations for this division, the top four seeds will automatically advance to the next round.
Goose Island Bourbon County Coffee Stout (1) progresses to next round
Goose Island Bourbon County Stout (2) progresses to next round
Prairie Artisan Ales Prairie Bomb! progresses to next round
Oskar Blues Ten Fidy progresses to next round
New Belgium Fat Tire (8) vs. New Belgium Lips of Faith Yuzu (9)
Prairie Artisan Ales Vanilla Noir (5) vs. Coors Brewing Third Shift (12)
Prairie Artisan Ales Coffee Noir (6) vs. Leinenkugel Snowdrift Vanilla Porter (11)
Tommyknocker Brewery Nut Brown Ale (7) vs. Abita Lemon Wheat (10)
Western Division
Russian River Pliny the Elder (tie 1) vs. Redhook Longhammer IPA (16)
Lagunitas A Little Something Something (8) vs. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (9)
Ballast Point Sculpin IPA (4) vs. Kona Brewing Fire Rock Pale Ale (13)
Lagunitas Sucks (5) vs. Lost Coast Indica IPA (12)
Deschutes Abyss (tie 1) vs. Widmer Bros. Hefeweizen (15)
Stone IPA (7) vs. Four Peaks Hop Knot (10)
Boneyard Hop Venom (3) vs. Kona Brewing Big Wave (14)
Stone Ruination IPA (6) vs. Sierra Nevada Ruthless (11)
Import Division
Sint Sixtus Westvleteren 12 (1) vs. Black Sheep Brewery Monty Python’s Holy Grail Ale (16)
Samuel Smith Nut Brown Ale (8) vs. Tucher Hefeweizen (9)
Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout (4) vs. Wychwood Hobgoblin (13)
Samuel Smith Taddy Porter (5) vs. Hoegaarden (12)
Kasteel Rouge (2) vs. Wells Banana Bread (15)
Weihenstephaner Original (7) vs. Unibroue Blanche de Chambly White Ale (10)
St. Bernadus Tripel (3) vs. Pilsner Urquell (14)
Samuel Smith’s Yorkshire Stingo (6) vs. Samuel Smith Organic Strawberry Fruit Ale
Now it is up to you to determine who the winner of each match up is. Also, now is the time to predict the Final Four teams along with the overall tournament champion. When you go to the survey and make your selections, be sure to fill out your contact information so that I can contact you if you win.
So, what are the prizes? Here they are:
Third prize — Magic Hat beanie and Harpoon keychain bottle opener
Second Prize – Yuengling baseball cap, Sierra Nevada t-shirt and
First Prize – Shiner Bock flag, Yuengling baseball cap and Harpoon keychain bottle opener
Not too shabby.
First round voting is now open and will remain open until noon on Sunday, March 16. The schedule for the rest of the tournament is:
- Sunday, March 16, 2014, 6:00 p.m. — Thrilling 32
- Thursday, March 20, 2014 – Sweet 16
- Monday, March 24, 2014 – Awesome 8
- Friday, March 28, 2014 – Final 4
- Tuesday, April 1, 2014 – Championship
Now, get out there and support your beers! Vote for your beers at the link below.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7GX8KPJ
