Welcome to For The Win Bracket Madness. In our fourth Bracket Madness contest of the month, we want you to decide the best craft beer brewery in the country.
The voting period for the opening round will run until 10 a.m. Thursday.
Well, this is fun.
All four past winners of our craft beer bracket — Southern Tier, Bell’s, Founders and WeldWerks — have already been eliminated. Russian River, once a runner-up and twice a Final Four contestant, is also out.
Certainly what beer drinkers look for has changed since 2015: hype now is generated by juicy, hazy IPAs. Or sours. Not so much barrel-aged anymore … except sometimes. Offering a variety of styles is important, but more vital, it seems, is a penchant for trying new things. Novelty wins.
It used to be the craft beer lovers would head to the bar, anxious to see which brewery from Colorado recently started shipping kegs to their region. Now they head to the local brewery, anxious to see what twist the brewmaster has for them this week.
