Tournament of Washington IPAs: Final vote and tonight’s party — For more than three weeks, Peaks and Pints challenged 64 of Washington state’s best India Pale ales to go IBU-to-IBU in a showdown of craft combat. Some fell easily by the wayside, either due to a rogue mash tun cleaner or simply because they faced a superior opponent. Hop by hop, the state drank its way down to yesterday’s Final Four: Rainy Daze Goat Boater IPA, Top Rung Shift Trade IPA, Stoup Citra IPA Walking Man IPA. It was do-or-die, win-or-fly, bring-your-best-or-oxidize.
Friday, April 28, Final Four Washington IPA Games results
FINAL FOUR GAME 1
14. Goat Boater IPA, Rainy Daze Brewing (650 NW Bovela Lane, Poulsbo) vs. 10. Shift Trade IPA, Top Rung Brewing Company (8343 Hogum Bay Lane N.E, Lacey)
Our Steno Pool called it the game of the tournament, which is hard to argue with two breweries that know how to distribute the word, as well as tasty IPAs. Honestly, we think the Steno Pool has a crush on the three handsome Top Rung brewers and their funny videos. Anyway, when the last pint was poured, and a lead it never gave up the entire day, Goat Boater IPA grabbed 58 percent of the vote and moves on to today’s championship game.
FINAL FOUR GAME 2
12. Citra IPA, Stoup Brewing (1108 NW 52nd St., Seattle) vs. 13. Walking Man IPA, Walking Man Brewing (240 First St., Stevenson)
Stoup Citra IPA came into the Tournament of Beers as a lowball No. 12 seed but didn’t disappoint — grabbing wins over Elysian Space Dust, Cloudburst Alternative Facts IPA and Georgetown Bodhizafa. Stoup led all morning with an average lead of 40 votes … until we picked up a keg of Citra IPA from the Seattle Ballard neighborhood brewery’s facility to tap today. At 5 p.m., with the windsurfers heading to the taproom for post Columbia Gorge surfing IPAs, Walking Man IPA poured it on. The Stevenson hangout began racking up votes in an eye-popping display of pint perfection, with strong play from their head brewer and former Tacoman James Landers. When the final buzzer rang, Walking Man IPA managed to beat Stoup Citra IPA by 365 votes, and score a date with Rainy Daze’s Goat Boater IPA in the championship game today.
Saturday, April 29, Washington IPAs Championship Game
The titanic IPA throwdown finale in on! Voting for the 2017 Tournament of Beer: Washington State IPAs Championship game is live. (See below)
After three weeks of voting, you have picked the most popular IPAs in Washington state. What began as 64 hop-slinging IPAs has been narrowed down to two: Rainy Daze Goat Boater IPA and Walking Man IPA.
Welcome to the big dance. Online voting will end at 4 p.m. Voting will resume at 5 p.m. live at the Tournament of Beers Party at Peaks and Pints, 3816 N. 26th St. in Tacoma’s Proctor District. Ballots will be handed out, which will also serve as raffle tickets for sweet prizes. The live vote will close at 8:30 p.m., tallied and the Washington state IPA champion will be announced at 9 p.m.
This is Poulsbo vs. Stevenson people. This is for IPA bragging rights for the entire Washington state.
Player: Goat Boater IPA (#14 seed)
Team: Rainy Daze Brewing, Poulso
Player Stats: Goat Boater isn’t an Adam Sandler movie but rather a slang name for kayakers, which there are plenty in Liberty Bay, a hop, skip and head butt from the Rainy Daze Brewing Co. in Poulsbo. Head brewer Mike Montoney has done it again, this time triple dry hopping with Amarillo, Mosaic, Centennial, Cascade and on and on. Goat Boater is a tropical fruit and dank IPA that has seen Peaks and Pints’ Western red cedar tap log many a time. Goat Boater hasn’t had any close calls. It has never seen anything less than a triple digit point difference win. Is the Goat exhausted? Well, wild goats never sleep: That’s right, wild goats are like Chuck Norris, they don’t sleep; they wait. Rainy Daze Goat Boater IPA is certainly wild.
ABV: 7% IBU: 57 Hops: Amarillo, Mosaic, Centennial, Cascade and others
Player: Walking Man IPA (#13 seed)
Team: Walking Man Brewing, Stevenson
Player Stats: For a decade and a half, down the stairs of an old shop, across from the north bank of the Columbia River, Walking Man Brewing has been quietly churning out some of the world’s best beer, such as their 13th seeded IPA, a 2006 World Beer Cup gold medal winner. It’s a low seed for an extremely flavorful IPA full of pine, citrus and resiny notes. Walking Man Brewing could just send out their IPA onto the court and call it good. Or, they could push their brewpub, which was named “Best Brewpub in Washington” five times in a row by Ratebeer. Will the Gorge brewery swing their award hardware around like a goat bell? This brewery doesn’t walk that way.
ABV: 7.2% IBU: 64, Hops: N/A
VOTE BELOW………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Be sure to click the blue DONE button after selecting your favorite IPAs!
Thanks again everyone for voting! See you at Peaks and Pints at 5 p.m.
LINK: Tournament of Beers: Washington State IPAs explanation
LINK: Hot Damn! Yes, I want to follow Peaks and Pints on Twitter
LINK: Explore Washington state breweries
