Tournament of Beer: West Coast Flagships bracket

Now in its fourth year, this year’s Peaks and Pints bracketed beer competition pits West Coast flagship beers against one another in frothy head-to-head match-ups voted on by craft beer enthusiasts. Though the tournament ultimately crowns a champion a la NCAA March Madness style, the real purpose is to champion the beers that put West Coast breweries on the map, which might have become forgotten in a sea of hazy milkshake IPAs and pastry stouts.

Peaks and Pints has unveiled the official bracket for its Tournament of Beer: West Coast Flagships, a voter-based public tournament seeking to crown the best West Coast flagship beer from the last four decades. Patterned after the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament, the Tournament of Beer features 64 flagships from Washington, Oregon and California, all seeded by public vote, and separated into four decade regions: 1980s, 1990s, 200s and 2010s with one flagship beer per brewery.

These top 64 vote getters — the cream of the dream — will compete Monday through Friday at tournamentofbeer.com, April 3-25. Through online voting, West Coast flagship beer drinkers will pick daily winners until the best flagship is crowned. It’s just like March Madness, only with way more piney hops.

The Tournament of Beer: West Coast flagships grand champion will be announced at the Tournament of Beer Party, April 25, at Peaks and Pints, 3816 N. 26th St., in Tacoma’s Proctor District. The final two flagships will battle live pouring from the bottle shop, taproom and restaurant’s Western red cedar tap log with the champion brewery receiving a permanent handle through the spring and summer 2020.

Drop by Peaks & Pints for bracket hard copies for your refrigerator.

Look for the first round of West Coast flagship beer battles beginning Friday, April 3 at tournamentofbeer.com.