And then there were three – Washington IPAs left in NIPAC, that is

Is it a conspiracy to keep Washington breweries down or is it simply fate? Is it a blatant attempt to stack the deck against us or is it the luck of the draw? You be the judge.

Seven of Washington’s finest beers made it out of the first round of the National IPA Championship (NIPAC), but only three continue on after the second. To learn more about NIPAC, read our previous posts about NIPAC here or go to the official NIPAC Web site.

The first round of the championship saw four Washington IPAs compete in head-to-head match ups: Lazy Boy vs. Port Townsend and Elysian vs. Breakaway. With 128 beers in the tournament, how could these four end up pitted against each other so early in the competition? The fates seemed to be aligned against us. Now, in the third round there is another WA vs. WA duel, so only two breweries will continue after this round, at best.

All you have to do is look at the bracket to realize it is inevitable that these kinds of unfortunate match ups are just the luck of the draw, but it’s kind of fun to pretend that some evil force is at work against us. Uh, I suppose. Uh, I mean, I’m being paranoid, right?

---

sponsor

---

---

sponsor

---

---

sponsor

---

---

sponsor

---

---

sponsor

---

---

sponsor

---

---

sponsor

---

---

sponsor

---

---

sponsor

---

---

sponsor

---

---

sponsor

---

---

sponsor

---

---

sponsor

---

---

sponsor

---

---

sponsor

---

---

sponsor

---

---

sponsor

---

---

sponsor

---

---

sponsor

---

Advancing:

Hale’s Supergoose IPA – Defeated Oakshire Brewing’s Watershed IPA in the first round and Big Bear Brewing’s Paw Print IPA in the second round. Now set to face crosstown rival Elysian Brewing’s Stolen Fire/Prometheus IPA in the third round.

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

Elysian Stolen Fire/Prometheus IPA – Defeated Seattle’s own Breakaway IPA in an unfortunate first round pairing. Next, defeated Ale Asylum’s Ballistic IPA in the second round. Now set to battle Hale’s Supergoose IPA.

Port Townsend Hop Diggedy IPA – In another unfortunate first round pairing, Hop Diggedy IPA defeated fellow WA entrant Lazy Boy IPA. In the second round they beat 21st Ammendment Brewing’s Brew Free or Die IPA. They now prepare to go up against Fat Head Brewery’s HeadHunter IPA.

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

Eliminated in Round Two:

The following lost in the second round: Pike IPA, Fremont Brewing’s Interurban IPA, Diamond Knot IPA, and Black Raven Brewing’s Trickster IPA.

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor

sponsor