Peaks & Pints Tournament of Beer: Northwest IPAs bracket released

Peaks & Pints has unveiled the official bracket for its 2025 Tournament of Beer: Northwest IPAs, a voter-based public tournament seeking to crown the best Northwest-style IPA brewed in the Pacific Northwest. Patterned after the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament, the Tournament of Beer features 64 Northwest IPAs brewed in Oregon and Washington. All are seeded by public vote and separated into four geographical regions: Northern Washington, Southern Washington, Northern Oregon, and Southern Oregon, with only one IPA per brewery.

The Tournament of Beer: Northwest IPAs nomination process was tricky this year. A few West Coast IPAs were nominated but had to be eliminated. Peaks & Pints defines Northwest IPA as a sub-set of the West Coast IPA; most importantly, it is brewed in the Pacific Northwest — specifically Washington and Oregon for this tournament — and is often crafted as a tribute to the region’s majestic evergreen forests. Second, the style highlights the unique hop varieties grown in the Pacific Northwest, including Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, Columbus, CTZ, Nugget, Amarillo, Mosaic, Simcoe, and Citra, to name a few. While there are many interpretations of the aroma and flavor notes, for the Tournament of Beer: Northwest IPAs, the nominated IPAs should be a clean, single IPA offering significant pine, citrus, and herbal aromas and flavors with a beautifully clear, light copper color and just enough caramel sweetness to balance the hop flavors. Northwesterners aren’t as focused on purely bitter beers as on hoppy beers. We want as much aroma and flavor as bitterness.

The top 64 vote-getters — the cream of the hops — will compete Monday through Friday, April 4-26. Through Peaks & Pints Instagram Stories voting, Northwest IPA drinkers will pick winners until the best Northwest IPA in the region is crowned. It’s just like March Madness, with way more Pacific Northwest hops.

The Tournament of Beer: Northwest IPAs grand champion will be announced at the Tournament of Beer Party on April 26 at Peaks and Pints, 3816 N. 26th St., in Tacoma’s Proctor District. The final two IPAs will battle live pouring from our Western red cedar tap log, with the champion brewery receiving a permanent handle through the spring and summer of 2025. The Tournament of Beer Party in-house ballots will also function as a raffle ticket for a Yeti Cooler plastered with as many participating brewery stickers as possible.

Stop by Peaks & Pints craft beer and cider bar, bottle shop, and restaurant in North Tacoma to pick up a Tournament of Beer: Northwest IPA bracket. Follow along on the Tournament Big Board above our 850-plus cooler. Look for the first round of Northwest IPA battles beginning Friday, April 4.

LINK: Peaks & Pints beer and cider cooler inventory