Cast Your Vote In Chicagoist's March Beer Madness
By Anthony Todd in Food on Mar 7, 2013 4:00PM
We love beer at Chicagoist. Ever since Chuck's very first Beer of the Week back in 2006, we've watched the local beer scene grow and grow. Breweries are opening faster than we can keep track of them. Beer bars and beer stores pop up every week. What does all that mean, especially during March Madness? We need a competition.
Welcome to Chicagoist's 2013 Best Local Beer Bracket Challenge. We've picked 32 of our favorite local Midwestern beers (with a focus on Chicago, of course) and set them against each other. Thirty-two will enter, one will win. You (along with our expert panel of beer geeks) get to help us decide which one.
Before people start complaining, we began with a few ground rules. These had to be generally-available beers, not seasonal tiny batches. They had to be available in bottles (which excludes some of the newer Chicago breweries) and had to have distribution in Chicago. We started with a very, very long list and whittled it down. Don't see your favorite? Comment/email us, and we will try to include it the next time we try something like this.
We've split the first round into two sets of 16. One will post today, the other tomorrow; voting will remain open until Monday at noon, leaving plenty of time for some weekend sampling. The competition is single-elimination. You can see the entire bracket, with the other 16 competitors, below. Links to descriptions of each beer are there as well.
Good luck to all the competitors, and may the best beer win!
Goose Island Bourbon County Stout vs. New Holland Dragon's Milk Stout
Revolution Eugene Porter vs. Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald
Goose Island Juliet vs. Jolly Pumpkin La Roja
Founders Red's Rye P.A. vs. Two Brothers Cane and Ebel
New Holland Mad Hatter IPA vs. Bell's Two Hearted IPA
Finch's Threadless IPA vs. Three Floyds Dreadnaught
5 Rabbit 5 Vulture vs. Greenbush Distorter Porter
Half Acre Daisy Cutter vs. Wild Onion Paddy Pale Ale