Peaks & Pints 2025 Tournament of Beer: Northwest IPAs April 15

Lo and behold, today marks the closing of the Tournament of Beer: Northwest IPAs’ First Round. After today’s battles, the bracket will be down to 32 Oregon and Washington Northwest-style IPAs, and participants will start hiring cheerleaders. Honestly, if it gets any more exciting we’ll begin to understand why Dick Vitale use to say, “It’s awesome, baby, with a capital IPA!” Plus, our palates are seriously blown out.

Without wasting anyone’s time with craft beer-related basketball innuendo, let’s move on to a recap of yesterday’s games and today’s Tournament of Beer action.

Monday, April 14, First Round Washington IPA Games results

GAME 1, SOUTHERN WASHINGTON REGION

Narrows Brewing Octo IPA (#5 seed) vs. Top Rung Brewing Prying Irons (#12 seed)

Unexpectantly, this was an epic battle — the kind of thing Tournament of Beer “instant classics” are made. A surprisingly low-scoring affair, with much of the action on defense, the fifth-seeded and Tournament of Beer veteran Octo IPA and 12th-seeded Prying Irons were in a dead heat — tied — multiple times during the Tournament. Peaks & Pints World Headquarters in Tacoma’s Proctor District, Tournament of Beer officials frantically discussed what to do in case of a tie. Overtime? Coin flip? See which brewery could deliver a case of Girl Scout Do-si-dos to our craft beer lodge the fastest? Luckily, in the final 30 minutes, Top Rung squeaked a 51 percent vote win to advance into the Second Round.

GAME 2, SOUTHERN WASHINGTON REGION

Loowit Brewing Shadow Shinobi IPA (#4 seed) vs. Odd Otter Brewing Optimus Pine IPA (#13 seed)

Loowit Brewing’s Shadow Shinobi and Odd Otter Optimus Pine battled repeatedly, changing leads. Odd Otter posting their get — an upcoming Tacoma Chamber After Hours networking session held in the brewery — might have made the difference as the Tacoma brewery ended up edging out the Vancouver stalwart with 56 percent of the votes.

GAME 3, NORTHERN OREGON REGION

Buoy Beer IPA (#7 seed) vs. Steeplejack Brewing Northwest IPA (#10 seed)

This game was fun to watch, even though the Buoy IPA maintained a lead all day. Peaks & Pints guests stood before the Big Board and discussed Buoy’s building collapsing into the Columbia River in 2022. No doubt that’s on the minds of voters. Steeplejack pushed pints and Simcoe sermons hard, keeping Buoy within a pew’s reach. In the end, Buoy IPA grabbed 58 percent of the vote and a spot in the Second Round.

GAME 4, NORTHERN OREGON REGION

Breakside Brewery India Pale Ale (#2 seed) vs. Old Town Brewing NW IPA (#15 seed)

The 2025 Oregon Beer Awards were last week. It was a banner night for Breakside Brewery with seven medals, including a gold in the barrel-aged stouts category for Somebody New in the Old West. Breakside jumped on the back of that momentum and rode it past Old Town’s NW IPA and into the Second Round with 76 percent of the vote.

Let’s check the hot water temperature in the lauter vessel. The following are advancing to the Second Round:

Top Rung Prying Irons

Odd Otter Optimus Pine

Buoy Beer IPA

Breakside Brewery India Pale Ale

OK, wipe the foam off your upper lip and dive into today’s Tournament of Beer: Northwest IPAs last First Round battles. Vote for one Northwest-style IPA per game on our Instagram Stories. Voting for today’s Northwest IPA battles ends at midnight.

Tuesday, April 15, First Round Northwest IPA Games

GAME 1, NORTHWEST WASHINGTON REGION

Player: Citra IPA (#6 seed)

Team: Stoup Brewing, Seattle

Player Stats: From the family farm and Critical Juncture Brewing Company to three locations and a distribution company, married couple Lara Zahaba and Brad Benson bet it all on Stoup Brewing. The Italian wine importer and forensic chemist, respectively, shared a passion for craft beer. They left the East Coast for their beloved Seattle, intending to open a brewery in the burgeoning brewery district of Ballard. And, while betting all their finances, their parents’ finances and the 150-year-old family farm in Iowa, plus all the money saved by their former schoolteacher turned first Washington state’s first female Certified Cicerone co-owner and assistant brewer Robyn Schumacher, on opening a 15-barrel brewhouse in an industry where they were strangers, they succeeded in turning their appropriately named Critical Juncture Brewing Company idea into one of Seattle’s most popular craft breweries, Stoup Brewing. Today, they have three locations — adding Kenmore and Capitol Hill — and an impressive distribution company, Stoup Distro. A light and bright color, a prominent Citra hop aroma, and a focus on citrus and tropical fruit flavors characterize Citra IPA. It’s not the most publicly nominated Northwest-style IPA in the Tournament, but Stoup describes it on their website as “IPA, Northwest, Hop Driven.”

ABV: 5.9% Hops: Citra

Player: Born & Raised (#11 seed)

Team: No-Li Brewhouse, Spokane

Player Stats: What began as Northern Lights Brewing became the multiple award-winning No-Li Brewhouse on the banks of the Spokane River in downtown Spokane. The brewery that created “Spokane Style” beers has a mantle full of craft beer awards such as Great American Beer Festival, Japan International Beer Competition, Brussels International Beer Competition, European Beer Star Competition, National Beer & Wine Wholesalers Association and five medals at the Washington Beer Awards including Large Brewery of the Year. Owners John and Cindy Bryant put Spokane on the map as a craft beer destination while giving back to the community. Born & Raised’s big, bold copper-colored ale showcases Munich and Crystal malts to create a big supportive body on which No-Li layers Chinook and Cascade for citrus and piney flavors and Northern Brewer for a hint of mint. Dry hopping with Cascade and Columbus increases the beer’s hoppy aromas.

ABV: 7% Hops: Chinook, Cascade, Northern Brewer, Columbus

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GAME 2, NORTHWEST WASHINGTON REGION

Player: Two Pronged Crown IPA (#3 seed)

Team: Old Stove Brewing, Seattle

Player Stats: What began as Chris Moore and Brian Stan having “what if” conversations and sketches on bar napkins became full-scale plans to present to both the Pike Place Market PDA and Market Historical Commission. After many discussions, Old Stove Brewing was approved to become the anchor tenant of the MarketFront eight years ago. Peaks & Pints appeared at their opening day celebration. Since then, Old Stove moved to a production brewery and expansive taproom with a view of Elliott Bay on the other side of the market, has opened in Queen Anne at 600 W. Nickerson St., and moved into the 16,500-square-foot former Lagunitas building in Ballard. Oh, and former Naked City founder Don Webb heads up the brewery team at the Pike Place location. Two Pronged Crown big Northwest-style IPA exudes bright tangerine, grassy pine, and complex earthy notes from abundant additions of dank Mosaic hops.

ABV: 6.66% Hops: Mosaic, Citra

Player: Allgood IPA (#14 seed)

Team: Old Schoolhouse Brewery, Winthrop

Player Stats: Casey and Laura Ruud purchased the floundering Winthrop brewery in 2008, changed the name to Old Schoolhouse Brewery, cleaned it up, and quickly turned it into an award-winning gem of a brewpub. Life happens, and the Ruud’s sold the brewery to three gentlemen who grew up in New Hampshire together, brothers Nathan and Jacob Young and Troy Anderson. Jacob and Nathan knew restaurants and bars inside and out. Troy coached high school track with Jacob and worked at Microsoft with Nathan. All three enjoy the outdoors, which is almost mandatory since the original riverfront brewery and gastropub is in Winthrop, which sits east of Mazama and north of Twisp in Okanogan County. Old Schoolhouse Brewmaster Kyle Koger, who worked his way up at the brewery, primarily brews in their larger production facility and taproom in Twisp. Koger is responsible for taking the brewery to the next level — integrating the art and science of brewing beers with the medals to prove it. Named after assistant brewer Nick Allgood, Allgood IPA features Chinook, Simcoe, Citra, and Cascade hops for a floral pine nose with a dry, bitter grapefruit finish.

ABV: 6.9% Hops: Chinook, Simcoe, Citra, Cascade

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GAME 3, SOUTHERN OREGON REGION

Player: RPM IPA (#1 seed)

Team: Boneyard Beer, Bend

Player Stats: In the late 1980s, Tony Lawrence arrived in Bend, Oregon, for the snowboarding at Mt. Bachelor, but stayed for the dish pit at Deschutes Brewery. Head brewer John Harris knew Lawrence was more than a dishwasher; soon, he was washing kegs. Lawrence quickly rose through the brewhouse ranks and in 2001 left to learn more at Rio Salado Brewing in Tempe under Tim Gossack and Firestone Walker under Matt Brynildson. He returned to Bend, pieced together a 5-barrel “boneyard” of old equipment he collected from 13 different breweries around the country, and alongside co-founders Clay and Melodee Storey, brewed the first batch of Boneyard Beer in May 2010. In July 2018, Boneyard opened a new taproom at 1955 NE Division Street in Bend; the location was formerly a Chinese restaurant, a Texas Hold’em poker room, and a short-lived taqueria. In March 2021, Deschutes Brewery and Boneyard Beer announced a new joint venture, forming a unique, Bend-based, local-to-local, craft-to-craft partnership. Boneyard’s flagship RPM IPA has a sweeter, malty side created with pale malt, Munich malt, Aromatic malt, Vienna malt, and dextrose with a hint of honey and caramel that transitions quickly to a very solid, but not overdone bitterness with the mid-palate flavors of pine, grapefruit, apricots and faint honey.

ABV: 6.5% Hops: Cascade, Simcoe, Citra, Centennial, Bravo

Player: Backside IPA (#16 seed)

Team: Oblivion Brewing, Bend

Player Stats: In Walnut Creek, California, Darin Butschy started homebrewing in high school and washing kegs at Devil Mountain Brewing, where he apprenticed under Brewmaster Jim DeBoer (now at Samuel Adams), learning the craft of production brewing. At age 19, Butschy became the head brewer at SLO Brew in San Louis Obispo while studying chemistry at California Polytechnic State University. Eventually, SLO Brew evolved into Firestone Walker, and Darin worked at Firestone for another year and a half. He traveled to Oregon for a snowboarding trip and fell in love with Mt. Bachelor and Bend. He completed his degree in chemistry in 1994, packed his bags, and moved to Bend. He homebrewed, worked several jobs, and started a family. Nineteen years later, he opened Oblivion Brewing Company on a half-barrel system, brewing five to six times a week until he pieced together a 10-barrel system a year later. His low-key brewery and tasting room on Plateau Drive in northeast Bend offers a lineup of core beers and several seasonals. He delivers beer around Central Oregon, too. His Backside IPA provides a mix of citrus and pine.

ABV: 6.6% Hops: Simcoe, Mosaic, Cascade, Cashmere, Centennial

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GAME 4, SOUTHERN OREGON REGION

Player: Alphadelic IPA (#8 seed)

Team: Hop Valley Brewing, Eugene

Player Stats: Founded in 2009 in Springfield, Oregon, by Walter Macbeth, Chuck Hare, Jonas Kunygys, and Trevor Howard, Hop Valley quickly made a name for itself in the wildly competitive Pacific Northwest craft beer scene with a real point of difference: Cryo hops. In July 2016, Hop Valley sold a majority stake in the company to Tenth and Blake, the craft beer division of MillerCoors. Tilray Brands, which bought Hop Valley from Coors in the summer of 2024, will shut down production at the brewery’s facility in July 2025. The Eugene taproom and pilot brew system will stay open, and all other Hop Valley brands will be brewed at either 10 Barrel in Bend or Widmer Brothers in Portland before the end of the summer. Back in the day, Alphadelic IPA was brewed with Simcoe, Cascade, Cluster, and Palisade, plus enough malt to back it up for sweet, bready malts connecting with dynamic resiny, piney hops that flourish and linger into the finish. It has since been brightened up.

ABV: 7.2% Hops: NA

Player: Pacific Northwest IPA (#9 seed)

Team: Rogue Ales, multiple Pacific Northwest locations including the recent opening in Salem

Player Stats: In addition to Christina Canto and all the Rogue Ales past and present brewers who graduated from the Oregon State University Fermentation Science program, the brewery also awards scholarships to the program in the name of their founder, Jack Joyce, who passed in 2014. The Jack Joyce Scholarship Award was created in 2014 by Columbia Distributing and Rogue Ales in honor of visionary Jack Joyce for his legacy in the Oregon community and his founding of Rogue Brewery in 1988. Jack’s vision, creativity, and innovation led Rogue to take daring risks and create one of the nation’s most successful breweries and distillers. Each year, students enrolled in Oregon State University’s Fermentation Science program can apply for scholarship funds where they can learn to brew the dank and piney Pacific Northwest IPA.

ABV: 6.9% Hops: Chinook, Simcoe, Strata, 2B Hop Lines Experimental

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Wednesday, April 16 Tournament of Beer: Northwest IPAs Second Round action

Game 1: Georgetown Brewing Lucille (#1 seed) vs. Machine House Brewery Northwest IPA (#9 seed)

Game 2: Everybody’s Brewing Illuminated NW IPA (#7 seed) vs. E9 Brewing Realize Real Lies (#2 seed)

Game 3: Migration Brewing Straight Outta Portland (#5 seed) vs. Double Mountain Brewery Hop Lava (#4 seed)

Game 4: Bend Brewing Tropic Pines IPA (#7 seed) vs. GoodLife Brewing Descender IPA (#2 seed)

LINK: Tournament of Beer: Northwest IPAs explained

LINK: Tournament of Beer Headquarters

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