The last two weeks of IPA Madness were definitely some tasty, beer-soaked Sundays. With 32 breweries competing to find out who has the best IPA in San Diego it was a lot of beer to get through. Luckily, we had some of the best tasters around (San Diegans) and they cast their vote and whittled down the field to the top 16.
Now, Home & Away will once again be hosting the IPA showdown and this Sunday, starting at noon, they will be getting through the Sweet Sixteen, the Elite Eight, the Final Four and then the final head to head match up to name the best IPA in San Diego!
As a recap, on the first weekend of competition, Karl Strauss won over Novo Brazil, Rip Current won over Rough Draft, Modern Times won over Iron Fist, Coronado Brewing won over Fall Brewing, Pizza Port beat Duck Foot Brewery, Belching Beaver beat Mission Brewery, Mother Earth won over Groundswell and finally, Green Flash beat out 32 North.
In the second week of the first round we had some surprising upsets that just go to show, big names don’t always make a better beer… O’Sullivan won out over Alesmith, Societe beat Jamul Brewing Co, Legacy Brewing Co.’s Hellfire IPA pulled off a win against Ballast Point’s Sculpin and Acoustic Ales’s Willow Wolf IPA pulled off a surprising win over craft brewery darling, Alpine Brewing Co.’s Duet. Then Stone beat St. Archer, New English pulled out a win against Butcher’s Brewing, Port Brewing won over Bitter Bros and the most exciting of the wins (in our opinion) was our own Relay IPA beating out Latitude 33. Here are the final match ups…
Can Thorn Street Brewery pull off a win against craft beer giant, Stone Brewing? We certainly think so, but of course we are biased so it will get thrown out to the masses to decide!
Now comes the final Sunday of exciting competition. Starting at noon and going until 4 pm, the last four rounds will be held. Each hour will feature head to head match ups and then move on to the next round, so make sure to get here at noon to begin the voting. Competing breweries were invited to set up tents with merch and more at H&A so expect to see lots of industry faces there. There will also be IPA and food specials, the best smoked pork tacos around, tons of games and of course, basketball.
Who will move on to the next rounds? Who will be the final brewery standing? Find out, this Sunday at IPA Madness!