Peaks & Pints Tournament of Beer: Best PNW Breweries April 9

Five days in, and the bracket has started to separate those who’ve been tested from those still waiting their turn.

Some breweries have already taken a hit — felt the weight of a full day’s voting, watched a lead shrink, or held on just long enough to move forward. Others are just stepping into that moment now, fresh, unproven, and about to find out how quickly things can turn.

And that difference matters.

Because survival changes the way you’re seen.

A 74 percent win feels like control. A 51 percent win feels like escape. Both move on. Both count. But they carry different energy into the next round — one like a stride, the other like a breath you didn’t realize you were holding.

That energy lingers.

We remember who cruised. We remember who stumbled. We remember who nearly disappeared sometime between lunch and last call before clawing their way back into tomorrow. And for the breweries stepping in today, that memory is already part of the field they’re entering.

Momentum, too, starts to take on a personality.

Some breweries feel inevitable — steady, building, hard to rattle. Others feel volatile, capable of swinging a matchup in either direction depending on who shows up and when. And then there are the ones that just keep advancing, quietly, without spectacle, like they’re saving something for later.

All of it matters now.

Because from here on out, it’s not just about getting through. It’s about how you get through — and whether that way still works when the field tightens and the matchups get sharper.

So this is where it shifts again.
Not introductions. Not curiosity. Not even just survival.
Now it’s legitimacy.

And the bracket is paying attention.

Wednesday, April 8, First Round Best PNW Breweries Games Results

Day Four didn’t wobble. It didn’t flirt with chaos. It moved with purpose.
Let’s weed through the malt.

GAME 1, NORTHERN WASHINGTON REGION

5. Chuckanut Brewery vs. 12. Fair Isle Brewing

There are moments in this tournament when tradition doesn’t just show up — it settles in, orders another round, and reminds everyone why it’s still here. Chuckanut Brewery did exactly that, pulling 76 percent of the vote over Fair Isle Brewing. Not a dismissal of Fair Isle’s delicate, mixed-culture elegance, but a clear nod to Chuckanut’s decades-deep devotion to lager precision — the kind of brewing that doesn’t ask for attention, just earns it over time. Chuckanut advances with the calm authority of a brewery that has seen every trend come and go and kept pouring anyway.

GAME 2, NORTHERN WASHINGTON REGION

4. Cloudburst Brewing vs. 13. Fast Fashion Brewing

Cloudburst Brewing moves on with 70 percent of the vote, riding that unmistakable energy — loud, joyful, a little chaotic in the best way — the kind of brewery that feels like it’s mid-conversation even when you just walked in. Fast Fashion, with its Anchovy-hopped experiments and beautifully strange aesthetic, made it interesting, but Cloudburst’s combination of high-level execution and full-throttle personality proved too much to overcome.

GAME 3, SOUTHERN OREGON REGION

6. Sunriver Brewing vs. 11. Oakshire Brewing

Sunriver Brewing continues its steady climb, earning 73 percent of the vote over Oakshire Brewing. This one felt like depth versus depth — two breweries with loyal followings and wide portfolios — but Sunriver’s balance of scale, consistency, and Spring Break crowd carried the day. It’s the kind of win that doesn’t shout, just quietly stacks another reason why they’re always in the conversation.

GAME 4, SOUTHERN OREGON REGION

3. Boneyard Beer vs. 14. Ninkasi Brewing

Boneyard Beer claims 66 percent of the vote over Ninkasi Brewing, and it feels like a familiar story — bold, hop-forward confidence meeting a legacy name that helped build the very stage we’re standing on. Ninkasi’s place in Oregon beer history is secure, but Boneyard’s unapologetic intensity and clarity of purpose continue to resonate with voters who want their beer to arrive with a little extra voltage. The RPM engine hums on into the next round.

Let’s weed through the malt. The following are advancing to the Second Round:
Chuckanut Brewery
Cloudburst Brewing
Sunriver Brewing
Boneyard Beer

You can feel it now — the bracket tightening, the margins sharpening, the sense that each vote carries a little more weight than it did yesterday.

Eight more First Round games dropped at 12:01 a.m. on Peaks & Pints’ Instagram Stories. One vote per matchup. Winners advance. Losers get folded into the long, hazy archive of “almost.”

Check the bracket. Trust your gut. Back your brewery.

Thursday, April 9, First Round Best PNW Breweries Games

GAME 1, SOUTHERN WASHINGTON REGION

Bale Breaker Brewing, Moxee (1) vs. Odd Otter Brewing, Tacoma (16)

Bale Breaker Brewing doesn’t just brew beer — it grows the conversation from the ground up. Founded in 2013 on a fourth-generation hop farm in Moxee, it sits in the middle of the thing most breweries only gesture toward: actual fields, actual bines, actual Yakima Valley sun doing its slow, essential work. Beers like Topcutter IPA carry that immediacy — bright, expressive, and rooted in a kind of agricultural clarity that feels less manufactured than revealed. Add in their Ballard taproom, where that hop-field energy meets Seattle’s urban hum, and you’ve got a brewery operating from both source and stage. This is hop country with a brewhouse attached, a place where freshness isn’t a goal so much as a given.

Bale Breaker Field Notes:
Founded: 2013
Signature move: Estate-grown hop beers with vivid aromatics
Vibe: Farm-rooted meets city-connected
Reputation: Yakima Valley standard-bearer with built-in terroir

Odd Otter Brewing answers with Tacoma energy — founded in 2012, playful, community-driven, and never particularly interested in taking itself too seriously. The downtown taproom has long leaned into character over polish, with a rotating cast of beers that range from classic to slightly off-center, all delivered with a wink and a steady local following. This is a brewery that understands beer as social glue — something to gather around, laugh over, and maybe argue about a little before ordering another round.

Odd Otter Field Notes:
Founded: 2012
Signature move: Eclectic lineup with a playful edge
Vibe: Quirky, welcoming, Tacoma through and through
Reputation: Community-first brewery with a sense of humor

Bale Breaker brings the field.
Odd Otter brings the room.

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GAME 2, SOUTHERN WASHINGTON REGION

Rainy Daze Brewing, Poulsbo (8) vs. Sig Brewing, Tacoma (9)

Rainy Daze Brewing rolls in with that Kitsap Peninsula ease — founded in 2012, rooted in Poulsbo’s Scandinavian charm, and built on the idea that beer should feel like a comfortable place to land. Their lineup leans broad and approachable, from hop-forward staples to darker, malt-driven pours, all delivered with a kind of steady reliability that doesn’t need to shout to be noticed. And tucked into that history: Goat Boater IPA, winner of the very first Tournament of Beer — Washington State IPAs, 2017 — a reminder that this brewery knows exactly how to navigate a bracket. This is a place that understands rhythm — familiar, welcoming, and capable of showing up when it counts.

Rainy Daze Field Notes:
Founded: 2012
Signature move: Balanced, approachable beers with proven bracket pedigree
Vibe: Cozy, nautical-adjacent, easygoing
Reputation: Kitsap staple with a Tournament of Beer title on the shelf

Sig Brewing answers with Tacoma precision and a slightly sharper edge. Founded in 2020, it may read like a newer voice, but next to the kettles is veteran brewer Jeff Stokes, who cut his teeth at Three Magnets. That experience shows — clean, well-executed beers, a modern taproom that still feels grounded, and a sense that every pour has been thought through before it hits the glass. From crisp lagers to hop-forward ales, there’s a steady hand guiding the whole operation.

Sig Field Notes:
Founded: 2020
Signature move: Clean, precise beers with veteran-driven execution
Vibe: Contemporary, focused, quietly confident
Reputation: Tacoma Historical Brewery District footprint backed by experienced brewing hands and pizza.

Rainy Daze has done this before.
Sig knows exactly what it’s doing.

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GAME 3, NORTHERN OREGON REGION

Kings & Daughters Brewery, Hood River (6) vs. Little Beast Brewing, Portland (11)

Kings & Daughters Brewery moves like a place built with intention from the ground up — Hood River born, relatively new, but carrying itself with the quiet confidence of experience earned elsewhere. Founded in 2022 by brewer Kyle Larsen and creative force Kacie McMackin — partners in life and in this quietly elegant rebellion against beer’s usual noise — the brewery draws from Larsen’s path through Full Sail and Double Mountain before sharpening his approach abroad at Siren Craft Brew in England. The result is a lineup that feels clean, expressive, and quietly precise — modern without chasing, grounded without feeling heavy. There’s a sense here that every detail has already been considered, then refined again.

Kings & Daughters Field Notes:
Founded: 2022
Signature move: Clean, refined beers with modern Northwest sensibility
Vibe: Polished, intentional, quietly confident
Reputation: Hood River’s new-school brewery with deep Gorge roots and global perspective

Little Beast Brewing answers with something a little wilder — and a lineage that runs straight through Oregon farmhouse royalty. Before opening Little Beast in 2017 with his partner Brenda Crow, co-founder Charles Porter brewed at Logsdon Farmhouse Ales, learning the quiet, patient language of wild fermentation on those beautifully archaic systems tucked into the Hood River hills. You could feel it even then — the way those beers moved, alive with Brett, lacto, wild flora — less controlled than guided. At Little Beast, that philosophy carries forward: wood-aged, blended, and shaped by the “little beasts” themselves, beers that don’t just ferment so much as evolve, landing somewhere between intention and wild grace.

Little Beast Field Notes:
Founded: 2017
Signature move: Mixed-culture, wood-aged farmhouse ales
Vibe: Rustic, living, quietly untamed
Reputation: Portland’s farmhouse torchbearer with Logsdon lineage

Kings & Daughters draws the line.
Little Beast lets it breathe.

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GAME 4, NORTHERN OREGON REGION

Great Notion Brewing, Portland (3) vs. Grand Fir Brewing, Portland (14)

Great Notion Brewing arrives like a sugar rush with a PhD in hops — founded in 2016, built on hazy IPAs, pastry stouts, and the gleeful refusal to stay inside any traditional lines. Ripe IPA helped define a moment, but it’s the constant churn of inventive releases — fruited, layered, occasionally outrageous — that turned Great Notion into a destination. This is a brewery that treats beer like a playground, where flavor is pushed, stretched, and sometimes joyfully overbuilt, all in the name of making something you didn’t know you wanted until it was already in your glass.

Great Notion Field Notes:
Founded: 2016
Signature move: Hazy IPAs and dessert-leaning stouts with maximal flavor
Vibe: Playful, experimental, indulgent
Reputation: Portland’s boundary-pusher with a cult following

Grand Fir Brewing answers with a quieter, more grounded kind of confidence — but behind it is a résumé that’s anything but quiet. Co-founded by chef Doug Adams and brewer Whitney Burnside, the brewery carries Burnside’s long arc through Northwest brewing: from culinary school at Johnson & Wales to artisan cheese-making at The Herbfarm, where fermentation first took hold; from working unpaid at Laurelwood just to get in the door, to stints at Upright and Elysian, to head brewer at Pelican, and eventually Brewmaster at 10 Barrel Portland, where she spent nearly eight years crafting award-winning beer. That experience shows up here as restraint, balance, and a deep understanding of how beer moves with food — not competing, but completing.

Grand Fir Field Notes:
Founded: 2022
Signature move: Food-driven beers shaped by deep brewing experience
Vibe: Culinary, refined, quietly authoritative
Reputation: Chef-and-brewmaster project with serious Northwest pedigree

Great Notion turns it up.
Grand Fir composes the plate.

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LINK: Tournament of Beer Headquarters

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