Peaks & Pints Tournament of Beer: Best PNW Breweries April 13

The bracket had a weekend to sit with itself.

No votes. No last-minute swings. No frantic refreshing of percentages while someone across the room insists their brewery “still has a shot.” Just a pause — long enough to revisit the matchups, replay the close calls, and quietly commit to whatever logic (or loyalty) has been guiding your decisions.

Because now we’re back.

And the First Round is entering its final stretch.

Two games out of Southern Washington. Two out of Northern Oregon. Eight more breweries stepping into a bracket that no longer feels theoretical — it feels lived in. Tested. A little worn at the edges in the best possible way.

Not the end. Not yet.

The final First Round games land tomorrow, Tuesday, April 14.
The Second Round begins Wednesday, April 15.

Eight more First Round matchups dropped at 12:01 a.m. on Peaks & Pints’ Instagram Stories. One vote per matchup. Winners advance. Losers drift into the growing collection of “we’re still talking about that one.”

Welcome back.

Check the bracket. Trust your instincts. Stay consistent — or don’t.

Because this is where the First Round tightens before it lets go.

Monday, April 13, First Round Best PNW Breweries Games

GAME 1, SOUTHERN WASHINGTON REGION

7 Seas Brewing, Tacoma (5) vs. Irrelevant Beer, Vancouver (12)

7 Seas Brewing arrives with deep South Sound roots and a story that refuses to sit still — founded in 2008 by Mike Runion and Travis Guterson in Gig Harbor, knocked sideways by a fire months later, and rebuilt into something larger, steadier, and unmistakably local. What followed wasn’t just growth, but intention: a return to downtown Gig Harbor, expansion into Tacoma’s former Heidelberg Brewery footprint, and a reputation built on consistency, accessibility, and showing up for the community again and again. First in Washington to can craft beer. A decade of “Best Brewery” nods. A presence that feels less like a brand and more like part of the shoreline.

That shoreline now includes a waterfront taproom along Gig Harbor’s Harborview Drive — tucked into the trees, looking out over Puget Sound, Mount Rainier, and the lighthouse. Boats pull up. Fire pits glow. The beer remains the constant, the setting simply catching up to it.

7 Seas Field Notes:
Founded: 2008
Signature move: Balanced, accessible beers built for wide reach
Vibe: Coastal, resilient, deeply rooted
Reputation: South Sound cornerstone with a waterfront anchor

Irrelevant Beer enters with a name that shrugs and a presence that absolutely does not — Vancouver-based and founded in 2020, it leans into modern beer culture with a wink, a nudge, and a refusal to take itself too seriously. But beneath the irreverence is sharp execution: hazy IPAs, crisp lagers, and releases that feel current without chasing every flicker of trend. It’s playful, yes — but intentional, too. The joke lands because the beer does.

Irrelevant Field Notes:
Founded: 2020
Signature move: Modern IPAs and clean lagers with a playful edge
Vibe: Irreverent, current, quietly dialed
Reputation: Vancouver upstart with personality and precision

7 Seas sets the horizon.
Irrelevant shifts it.

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GAME 2, SOUTHERN WASHINGTON REGION

Grains of Wrath Brewing, Camas (4) vs. Vice Beer, Vancouver (13)

Grains of Wrath Brewing storms in with volume turned all the way up — founded in 2017 in Camas and driven by owner and head brewer Mike Hunsaker, an award-winning brewer whose reputation is built on precision, intensity, and knowing exactly how far to push a hop before it pushes back. The beers reflect it: razor-sharp West Coast IPAs, crisp lagers that snap to attention, everything clean, deliberate, and dialed. The heavy-metal ethos still hums through the space, but it’s matched by a kitchen that hits just as hard — bold, craveable, and built to keep pace with the beer. This is controlled aggression, executed with intent.

Grains of Wrath Field Notes:
Founded: 2017
Signature move: Bold, hop-saturated IPAs and crisp lagers
Vibe: Loud, intense, metal-leaning
Reputation: Southwest Washington powerhouse with a cult following

Vice Beer doesn’t just lean into nostalgia — it lives there, fully, unapologetically, like a brewery built inside a rewound VHS tape. Founded in 2022 by Michael and Bria Perozzo alongside Cameron and Erica Johnson, the Vancouver operation runs on 80s and 90s oxygen — arcade cabinets humming, CD players clicking, pop culture references stacked like old movie cases behind the bar. But it’s not just aesthetic. The beer follows suit: hazy IPAs, fruit-loaded sours, slushie pours, names pulled straight from a Blockbuster shelf and delivered with a wink that never feels accidental. This is brewing as memory, as mood, as a kind of joyful time warp — playful on the surface, but grounded enough underneath to make the whole thing land.

Vice Field Notes:
Founded: 2022
Signature move: Nostalgia-driven IPAs and fruited sours with modern execution
Vibe: 90s time capsule, arcade-lit, joyfully referential
Reputation: Vancouver’s retro-fueled disruptor with real brewing chops

Grains of Wrath cuts clean.
Vice hits rewind.

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GAME 3, NORTHERN OREGON REGION

Wayfinder Beer, Portland (7) vs. Brujos Brewing, Portland (10)

Wayfinder Beer moves with the kind of quiet authority that comes from knowing exactly what belongs in the glass — opened in 2016 in Portland’s Central Eastside by Rodney Muirhead, Charlie Devereux, and Matt Jacobson, with founding brewmaster Kevin Davey setting the tone early and current brewmaster Natalie Baldwin carrying that precision forward. This is a brewery built on decoction, patience, and an almost stubborn devotion to doing things the long way when the long way makes it better. The lagers are the headline — crisp, structured, impossibly clean — but the innovation runs just beneath the surface, bending tradition into something new, including the Cold IPA, a style that now stretches far beyond Oregon. Wayfinder doesn’t chase attention. It earns it slowly, then keeps it.

Wayfinder Field Notes:
Founded: 2016
Signature move: Traditional lagers and Cold IPA innovation
Vibe: Industrial, focused, quietly exacting
Reputation: Portland lager authority with a global ripple effect

Brujos Brewing arrives like a shadow with a pulse — newer, harder to pin down, and entirely uninterested in playing by the usual rules. Founded in 2023 by owner and head brewer Jose Ruiz, Brujos operates with a kind of intentional mystique, releasing heavily hopped IPAs and experimental beers in limited drops that feel more like events than products. The aesthetic leans dark, the names cryptic, the beers saturated and intense — but beneath it all is a clear sense of control. This isn’t chaos. It’s design, just dressed in black.

Brujos Field Notes:
Founded: 2023
Signature move: Hyper-saturated IPAs and limited, high-impact releases
Vibe: Dark, elusive, deliberately cryptic
Reputation: Cult favorite with hype and precision in equal measure

Wayfinder builds it right.
Brujos casts the spell.

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GAME 4, NORTHERN OREGON REGION

pFriem Family Brewers, Hood River (2) vs. Threshold Brewing, Portland (15)

pFriem Family Brewers moves with the kind of quiet mastery that makes excellence feel inevitable — founded in 2012 by Josh Pfriem, whose path through Belgium’s storied brewing traditions still echoes in every glass. This is a brewery that doesn’t just span styles, it refines them — Belgian ales with grace, lagers with precision, hop-forward beers that never lose their center. Nothing rushed, nothing out of place. Add in the Hood River backdrop — light off the Columbia, Mount Hood holding steady in the distance — and it all feels composed, like the setting finally caught up to the beer.

pFriem Field Notes:
Founded: 2012
Signature move: Across-the-board excellence with Belgian-inspired precision
Vibe: Refined, balanced, quietly world-class
Reputation: One of the Northwest’s most complete breweries

Threshold Brewing answers with something smaller, closer, and deeply human — founded in 2017 in Portland by Polish-born brewer Greg Gąsiorowski, carrying a quiet European sensibility into a neighborhood-focused space. The beers don’t chase attention; they hold it, built on balance, drinkability, and a sense that beer belongs in conversation as much as in competition. It’s a place where the scale stays small on purpose, where regulars matter, and where every pour feels like part of something ongoing rather than something finished.

Threshold Field Notes:
Founded: 2017
Signature move: Balanced, small-batch beers with thoughtful execution
Vibe: Intimate, welcoming, quietly expressive
Reputation: Portland sleeper with European roots and loyal locals

pFriem refines the craft.
Threshold holds the room.

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