National IPA Championship, Round 5

Submitted by kenchairtoe on Sat, 03/13/2010 - 23:54

ROUND 5 - March 13, 2010

NAME                        POINTS                             OVERALL RANKING                           PREDICTED CHAMPION

Jonathan Jacoby           93                                          62nd                                         West Coast IPA (Green Flash Brewing Co.)

Jennifer Chase               82                                          110th                                        Inversion IPA (Deschutes Brewing Co.)

Heather Smith               78                                          142st                                         Stone IPA (Stone Brewing Co.)

Dane Grebisz                 72                                          189th                                        Organic IPA (Hopworks Urban Brewery)

Luke Hooten                 71                                          199th                                        Stone IPA (Stone Brewing Co.)

Jon Hallquist                  59                                          382th                                        Stone IPA (Stone Brewing Co.)

 

LET THE SUFFERING BEGIN! Except, of course, for Jennifer. She came out as the winner of the final bout between her and Luke, and with that small victory came a good chunk of points and a 114-spot increase in the standings and taking second place from Heather in our own little group. Let us all raise our glasses for her accomplishment.

Unfortunately for the rest of us, we were kicked pretty hard whilst down. At this point, after a 29-spot drop, I'm simply hoping to finish in the top 100 of this competition. Though we're all starting to fall, everyone else wasn't hit too hard. It seems that our IPA judgements were clouded by the sweet nectar that we drink here in Oregon. I don't mean to sound sore about the results, but Oregon has the best beer in the world, hands down!

With only one round to go, we are only one week away from the crowning of a new champion. What started with128 worthy competitors has been narrowed down to these final four:

 

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

2) Headhunter IPA - Fat Heads Brewing & Saloon (North Olmsted, OH)

3) Good Karma IPA - Mad Anthony Brewing Company (Fort Wayne, IN)

4) Union Jack IPA - Firestone Walker Brewing Comapny (Paso Robles, CA)

 

Only one more week until one of these brews will become the national champion for 2010. CAN YOU FEEL IT?!?!

And will somebody please help me figure out where I can get my hands on these beers?? I need to know if they are truely worthy of the status they've risen to.