24 Washington beers competed in the 1st round of the Brewing News National IPA Championship this past weekend, and 15 of those advanced to the second round. If you are not familiar with this competition, it is a March Madness style blind tasting tournament curated by the Brewing News and judged by brewers and industry folk. There are two separate competitions for IPAs and Imperial IPAs. It includes some of the best IPAs from across the country, and WA is well represented with about 10% of all the entries.

The first round matchups for Washington beers are below with the winning beer in bold. The competition is stiff for the event, but this year WA came through the 1st round quite well overall. 14 WA beers were entered in the IPA category (out of 128 total), and 7 of those advanced to the 2nd round. 10 WA beers were entered in the IIPA category (out of 96 total), and 8 of those also advanced to the second round. Due to the number of entries, several breweries did have a bye in the first round of the Imperial IPA competition.

It’s great to see some of Washington’s smaller breweries perform well in a blind tasting against some of the best IPAs from around the country. A big congrats goes out to Standard Brewing, which submitted 3 beers to the competition and saw them all advance; including a big win with their Imperial IPA over Port Brewing Mongo IIPA. Also, a shout out to Old Schoolhouse, which pulled one of the biggest upsets of the tourney with their Imperial IPA taking down the vaunted Firestone Walker Double Jack.

Congrats to all of the breweries that advanced, and I hope to see all the others competing back here again next year.

There were 14 Washington beers entered in the regular IPA category. Here are those matchups:
Airways Brewing IPA vs. Elysian Savant IPA
Mt. Tabor Bridge Lifter vs. NoDa Brewing Hop, Drop ‘n Roll
Mt. Tabor Asylum Ave vs. Stevens Point Point Beyond the Pale
Seapine IPA vs. Brew Kettle Production Works White Rajah
Urban Family Brewing Low Hangin’ Fruit vs. Two Beers Evo IPA
Redhook Long Hammer IPA vs. Bowser Brewing Bowser IPL
Ice Harbor IPA vs. Boneyard Bone-A-Fide
Old Schoolhouse Ruud Awakening IPA vs. Lawson’s Finest Liquids Ava IPA
Scuttlebutt Explore the Hopvoodoo vs. Hoppin’ Frog Hoppin’ to Heaven IPA
Standard Brewing WC IPA vs. Galaxy Brewing Andromeda IPA
Standard Brewing Rye IPA vs. Harpoon IPA
Populuxe IPA vs. Ballast Point Sculpin

There were also 10 Washington beers entered in the Imperial IPA category:
Reuben’s Brews Imperial IPA vs. Red Eye Brewing Tragically Hopped
Scuttlebutt Hoptopia vs. Lost Rhino HopStar
Old Schoolhouse Imperial IPA vs. Firestone Walker Double Jack
Airways Brewing Sky Hag vs. Grand Canyon Brewing Hop Bomb
Elysian Yippee Ki Yay vs. Community Beer Works The Double IPA
Standard Brewing Imperial IPA vs. Port Brewing Mongo IIPA
Populuxe Brewing Full Spectrum IIPA vs. Anderson Valley Heelch O’ Hops
Airways Brewing Loud Lady: No opponent; Bye Round
Ice Harbor Hop Warrior: No opponent; Bye Round
Reuben’s Brews Imperial Rye IPA: No opponent; Bye Round

Here are the matchups for the 15 WA beers that made it into the 2nd round, which will take place this weekend:
Airways Brewing IPA vs. Baker City Brewing W.F.O IPA
Mt. Tabor Asylum Ave vs. Marin Brewing Three Flowers IPA
Urban Family Brewing Low Hangin’ Fruit vs. Barley Brown’s Pallet Jack IPA
Ice Harbor IPA vs. Jack’s Abby Hoponius Union
Scuttlebutt Explore the Hopvoodoo vs. Lawson’s Finest Liquids Ava IPA
Standard Brewing WC IPA vs. Fat Heads IBUsive
Standard Brewing Rye IPA vs. Firestone Walker Union Jack
Reuben’s Brews Imperial IPA vs. Monday Night Brewing Blind Pirate
Reuben’s Brews Imperial Rye IPA vs. Barnhouse Brewery The Matriarch
Scuttlebutt Hoptopia vs. Boneyard Notorious
Old Schoolhouse Imperial IPA vs. Starr Hill Double Platinum
Standard Brewing Imperial IPA vs. Barley Brown Allocation IPA
Populuxe Brewing Full Spectrum IIPA vs. Airways Brewing Loud Lady
Ice Harbor Hop Warrior vs. Laurelwood Megafauna