Seven fall, two survive
Harmon Brewing Company‘s Commencement Bay IPA and Boundary Bay Brewery‘s IPA are the only Washington beers still standing at this year’s National IPA Championship (NIPAC) – the annual IPA competition organized by the Brewing News. They now advance to the competition’s third round.
In the second round Harmon knocked off Stone Brewing’s IPA to remain in the competition. Harmon now faces off against Pensacola Bay Brewery’s Lil Napoleon IPA. Boundary Bay defeated Lakefront Brewery’s IPA to stay alive. The
“Bellingham Behemoth” now faces off against Crooked Tree IPA from Dark Horse Brewing.
Nine Washington IPAs advanced to the second round. Here are the results for the seven which were eliminated this past weekend.
- Naked City Brewery‘s Hoptrocity was defeated by Grand Canyon Brewing’s Black Iron IPA.
- Trade Route Brewing‘s Hoppy Bitch IPA was defeated by Left Coast Brewing’s Trestles IPA.
- Boundary Bay Brewing‘s BBay Cascadian Dark was defeated by Dark Horse Brewing’s Crooked Tree IPA.
- Lazy Boy Brewing‘s IPA was defeated by McNeil Brewery’s Sunshine IPA.
- Flyers Brewery‘s Afterburner IPA was defeated by Empire Brewing’s IPA.
- Flyers Brewery‘s Hop Duster IPA was defeated by Big Dog Brewing’s Dirty Dog IPA.
- Snipes Mountain Brewing‘s Zombie Killer IPA was defeated by Ballast Point Brewing’s Sculpin IPA.
Interestingly, because of the way the brackets were drawn, if Boundary Bay’s BBay Cascadian Dark had advanced it would have faced off against Boundary Bay IPA is the third round.
While I am not familiar with most of the non-Washington beers in this competition, last Friday I was fortunate enough to drink the Sculpin IPA at Ballast Point’s tap room in San Diego. The crew at Snipes Mountain can rest assured that they were defeated by a very seriously delicious, top quality product. I’m sure it was a tight battle: the Zombie Killer does not fall easily.