Peaks & Pints 2025 Tournament of Beer Northwest IPAs Hot Break Eight
The Hot Break Eight is fully fleshed out: Georgetown Lucille, Stoup Citra IPA, Odd Otter Optimus Pine, E9 Realize Real Lies, Fort George Vortex, pFriem IPA, Boneyard RPM, and Bend Brewing Tropic Pines. All the signs in the breweries, the mass emailings to customers and friends, the IPA phone trees have paid off for these eight hop slingers. It’s now do or diacetyl time for the IPA royalty.
So, read up on yesterday’s Tournament of Beer action, and then vote on the Hot Break Eight games. …
Wednesday, April 23 Tournament of Northwest IPAs Sweet Wort 16 Results
GAME 1, NORTHERN WASHINGTON REGION
Stoup Brewing Citra IPA (#6 seed) vs. Hellbent Brewing House IPA (#7 seed)
Stoup Brewing kept the lead all day with ferocious play from their Citra IPA, with assist after assist from their Citra Studies IPA. That one-two juice punch was too much for Hellbent’s House IPA and their house DJ, who played wicked house music all day. But, House IPA got housed. Citra IPA secured 56 percent of the vote and moves into the Hot Break Eight.
GAME 2, SOUTHERN WASHINGTON REGION
Camp Colvos Brewing Buckhorn IPA (#16 seed) vs. Odd Otter Brewing Optimus Pine IPA (#13 seed)
Otters don’t have a fixed wake-up time in the morning like humans do. They are primarily active at night, dusk, and dawn, and they may rest and sleep in short periods throughout the day and night. Odd Otter was wide awake during the wee hours of the Tournament, collecting votes while they ate and groomed. Buckhorns generally start waking up and moving from their feeding areas to their bedding areas between 6 and 10 a.m. They are often more lethargic and sleepy during this period. At noon, Buckhorn grunted, and the votes started flooding into Camp Colvos in Tacoma’s Historic Brewery District. On the other end of downtown Tacoma, Optimus Pine was distracted by his buddy, Bumblebeer, allowing the Buckhorn to graze for votes and tie the game at 2 p.m. From there, sleep and grooming patterns were out the window. The game became a back-and-forth affair with fur flying everywhere. This Battle in Tacoma ended at the final buzzer, as it does, with Odd Otter Optimus Pine winning by TWO votes and a slot in the Hot Break Eight.
GAME 3, NORTHERN OREGON REGION
pFriem Family Brewers IPA (#3 seed) vs. Buoy Beer IPA (#7 seed)
Sally might sell shells by the seashore, but these two breweries brew delicious Northwest-style IPA yards away from the Columbia River — pFriem sits above the Columbia River in Hood River, while Buoy, because of its roof collapse several years ago, now sits several blocks away from the mighty river in Astoria. We have no idea what that means, but we know these two upper-seed IPAs had nothing to lose, unless you count a permanent handle at Peaks & Pints through the summer. Could pFriem’s river view advantage be why its IPA grabbed 66 percent of the vote yesterday? Again, we have no idea, but it didn’t hurt, at least in this game.
GAME 4, SOUTHERN OREGON REGION
Boneyard Beer RPM IPA vs. Silver Moon Brewing IPA 97 (#5 seed)
Last year, after his Diablo Rojo beat Bend Brewing’s Outback in the Tournament of Northwest Ambers, Boneyard Beer owner Tony Lawrence cranked “Giving The Dog A Bone” by AC/DC for the brewhouse. This year, with the lead changing many times throughout yesterday, Lawrence re-entered his brewhouse, which was still lively even after midnight, and cranked Sugar Ray’s “RPM” for his brewers. “You earned this 54 percent win, everyone! Cheers!” he yelled with an RPM IPA in his hand.
Let’s clean out the mash tun. The following are advancing to the Hot Break Eight:
Stoup Citra IPA
Odd Otter Optimus Pine IPA
pFriem IPA
Boneyard RPM IPA
All right! Let’s dive into the Hot Break Eight. Please vote for one IPA per game on Peaks & Pints’ Instagram Stories. Voting for today’s battles ends at midnight. We’ll announce the winners tomorrow morning around 9 a.m., but today’s games are live on Peaks & Pints’ Instagram Stories. Take a deep whiff and get to voting. …
Thursday, April 24, Sweet Wort 16 Northwest IPAs Games
GAME 1, NORTHERN WASHINGTON REGION
Georgetown Brewing Lucille IPA (#1 seed) vs. Stoup Brewing Citra IPA (#6 seed)
Georgetown Brewing’s Lucille IPA and Stoup Brewing’s Citra IPA are standout examples of Pacific Northwest-style IPAs, each offering a unique twist on the classic IPA profile. Lucille offers a harmonious blend of pine, citrus zest (notably navel orange), and mild strawberry notes. The malt backbone adds a touch of caramel sweetness, balancing the beer’s bitterness without overwhelming the palate. Described as “Sunshine in a Glass,” Citra IPA offers tropical fruit and citrus aromas. The flavor profile includes grapefruit, pineapple, and green apple notes, with a clean fermentation and a light body. Choose Georgetown’s Lucille IPA if you prefer a more traditional, hop-forward IPA with a higher ABV and a complex blend of flavors. Opt for Stoup’s Citra IPA if you want a lighter, more sessionable beer highlighting Citra hops’ bright and tropical notes. Georgetown versus Ballard! Here we go!
VOTE ON PEAKS & PINTS’ INSTAGRAM STORIES >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
GAME 2, SOUTHERN WASHINGTON REGION
Odd Otter Brewing Optimus Pine IPA (#13 seed) vs. E9 Brewing Realize Real Lies IPA (#2 seed)
On paper, E9 Brewing has a medal hardware and pedigree to take this game from Odd Otter down the street. But the Tournament of Beer: Northwest IPAs isn’t played on paper, it’s played on fancy phones. Both breweries have done an excellent job marketing their IPAs during the Tournament. Still, Odd Otter, exhausted from yesterday’s battle with this year’s number 16 seed Cinderella story, Camp Colvos Buckhorn IPA, will need all its semi-aquatic habitat friends to get past the wall of medals at E9. This will be a heartbreaker, whichever way it goes.
VOTE ON PEAKS & PINTS’ INSTAGRAM STORIES >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
GAME 3, NORTHERN OREGON REGION
Fort George Brewery Vortex IPA (#1 seed) vs. pFriem Family Brewers IPA (#3 seed)
When you create sold-out festivals, beer months, beer that produces lines, beer that people clamor for the beta versions, and occupy an entire city block for a complex that includes three restaurants, a tasting room, breweries, a cannery, and music venues, you’re going to stick in people’s minds. That’s Fort George Brewery. If you own a 22,000-square-foot brewery in Hood River that allows them to brew over 60,000 barrels, have a facility in Cascade Locks that holds over 700 barrels of fermenting beer, plus two large foeder vats, numerous other fruit tanks, a koelship for open-air wild fermenting and are one of the most medaled breweries in Oregon, you’ll garner attention. That’s pFriem Family Brewers. Welcome to the most anticipated game of the Tournament so far. Fort George Vortex vs. pFriem IPA. This would be worthy of a riverboat tour between the two breweries. Vote with your heart.
VOTE ON PEAKS & PINTS’ INSTAGRAM STORIES >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
GAME 4, SOUTHERN OREGON REGION
Boneyard Beer RPM IPA vs. Bend Brewing Tropic Pines IPA (#7 seed)
How do we describe this game? Both breweries are well-loved so that rallying support won’t be an issue. The real question is: Will Tropic Pines be distracted by Boneyard’s skull and crossbones, or will the tropical and piney IPA, or will it look itself in the mirror wearing the bronze medal it earned at the Oregon Beer Awards last week, and say, “I hit the sweet spot of 6.5 percent and correspondingly provides a balanced between hop bite and a definite malt presence? Vote now, then keep an eye on Netflix for a possible movie filmed around this game.
VOTE ON PEAKS & PINTS’ INSTAGRAM STORIES >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
LINK: Tournament of Beer: Northwest IPAs explained
LINK: Tournament of Beer Headquarters
LINK: Hot Damn! Yes, I want to subscribe to 6-Pack of Things To Do newsletter and be hip to local happenings!
