National IPA Championship, Round 4

Submitted by kenchairtoe on Sat, 03/06/2010 - 22:58

The resutlts:

ROUND 4 - March 6, 2010

NAME                        POINTS                             OVERALL RANKING                           PREDICTED CHAMPION

Jonathan Jacoby            93                                          33rd                                         West Coast IPA (Green Flash Brewing Co.)

Heather Smith                78                                          121st                                         Stone IPA (Stone Brewing Co.)

Dane Grebisz                  72                                          177th                                        Organic IPA (Hopworks Urban Brewery)

Luke Hooten                  71                                          188th                                        Stone IPA (Stone Brewing Co.)

Jennifer Chase               66                                           234th                                        Inversion IPA (Deschutes Brewing Co.)

Jon Hallquist                  59                                           315th                                        Stone IPA (Stone Brewing Co.)

 

Damn, this round was truely unforgiving! Though in the competition there remain two more rounds, this was the end of the road for many of us. Dane, Heather, Jon, and myself all put up a strong fight, but our current results are the best we are going get. All of our predicted champions have fallen.  I was fortunate enough to taste top-ten greatness, but only for a brief period. Jennifer and Luke are going to be duking it out, as they each picked opposing IPAs that will be going head-to-head next week and only one of them will have a chance to gain points in the next round. With all this in mind, I give you the 2010 "Elite 8" of the National IPA Championship:

 

1) Stolen Fire IPA - Elysian Brewing Co. (Seattle, WA)

2) Islander IPA - Coronado Brewing Co. (Coronado, CA)

3) Head Hunter IPA - Fat Heads Brewing & Saloon (North Olmsted, OH)

4) Flower Power IPA - Ithaca Beer (Ithaca, NY)

5) Good Karma IPA - Mad Anthony Brewing Co. (Fort Wayne, IN)

6) Roadrunner IPA - Blue Corn Brewing (Santa Fe, NM)

7) Wipeout IPA - Port Brewing Co. (San Marcos, CA)

8) Union Jack IPA - Firestone Walker Brewing Co. (Paso Robles, CA)

 

This seems like a pretty solid list, but as a prideful Oregonian I am not happy. I will now shift my interests further north and wholeheartedly support the Elysian Brewing Company in their quest for the title. The Northwestern United States is the beer capital of the world and I will not have that title be stripped away by some Midwest and East Coast hacks who are only trying to mimic the greatness that our region brews daily and pridefully.

I raise my glass to these beers that have proven themselves past their 120 fallen competitors and I await with anticipation the crowning of a champion.