Monday, February 3rd, 2025

Tournament of Beer Time: What is your favorite Northwest IPA?

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Tournament of Beer Time: What is your favorite Northwest IPA?

In April 2025, Peaks & Pints will host the Tournament of Beer: Northwest IPAs. Chosen through a public nomination vote, 64 Washington and Oregon IPAs — the cream of the hops — will compete Monday through Friday on our Instagram Stories, April 4-26. Through online voting, Pacific Northwest India Pale Ale drinkers will pick daily winners until the best IPA brewed in Washington or Oregon is crowned. It’s just like March Madness but with way more alpha acids.

Peaks & Pints will take the top 64 IPAs you voted for and seed the tournament according to the most votes, separated into four geographical regions: Northern Washington, Southern Washington, Northern Oregon, and Southern Oregon, with only one IPA per brewery. We’ll announce the 64 nominated Northwest IPAs on Monday, March 10, 2025.

The IBU-to-IBU battle of Northwest IPAs grand champion will be announced at the Tournament of Beers Party on April 26 at Peaks & Pints in Tacoma’s Proctor District. The final two IPAs — Washington versus Oregon — will battle live pouring from our Western redcedar tap log, with the champion brewery receiving a permanent handle at Peaks & Pints through the spring and summer of 2025.

Tournament of Beer nominations

First, we need you to seed the tournament in the form below. Peaks & Pints asks you to select the 64 Northwest IPAs that should be included in the tournament. We define Northwest IPA as a sub-set of the West Coast IPA; most importantly, it is brewed in the Pacific Northwest — specifically Washington and Oregon for this tournament — and is often crafted as a tribute to the region’s majestic evergreen forests. Second, the style highlights the unique hop varieties grown in the Pacific Northwest, including Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, Columbus, CTZ, Nugget, Amarillo, Mosaic, Simcoe, and Citra, to name a few. While there are many interpretations of the aroma and flavor notes, for the Tournament of Beer: Northwest IPAs, the nominated IPAs should offer significant pine, citrus, and herbal aromas and flavors with a beautifully clear, light copper color and just enough caramel sweetness to balance the hop flavors. Northwesterners aren’t as focused on purely bitter beers as they are on hoppy beers. We want as much aroma and flavor as bitterness.

What is the best IPA in the Northwest? Vote for your three favorites below before midnight on Thursday, March 6. We’ll randomly select a ballot to win a $25 Peaks & Pints gift card.

Look for the first round of Northwest IPA battles on Friday, April 4.

NOMINATE YOUR FAVORITE NORTHWEST IPA BELOW


LINK: Peaks & Pints beer and cider cooler inventory