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Only eight beers remain in the Des Moines Register’s Beer Brackets.
This round of Beer Brackets voting ended on March 21, and now eight Iowa beers remain to vie for bragging rights. This marks the sixth installment of letting readers vote to discover Iowa’s favorite craft beer brewed in the state.
We invite readers to vote for their favorites, sorted into four brackets with two breweries and their beers remaining in each. One bracket focuses on lagers and ales, another IPAs, a third features stouts and porters, and the fourth is a wild card category that could feature a fruity sour, a lambic, or any other type of beer.
So far, 704 people cast 15,392 votes to trim the contestants down to eight.
Which Iowa breweries remain in Beer Brackets?
Ales, pilsners and similar bracket
Backpocket Brewing Slingshot defeated Lion Bridge Brewing Co. Compensation English Dark Mild Ale by one vote.
Toppling Goliath Pseudo Sue Double Dry-Hopped beat Exile Brewing Co. Ruth Gold Lager by three votes.
Toppling Goliath moves on to face Backpocket Brewing in the Elite Eight.
IPAs bracket
Big Grove Easy Eddy defeated Exile Brewing Co. Citra Sky Hazy IPA, while Peace Tree Get a Little Hazy beat Pulpit Rock Brewing Co. Saftig IPA.
Big Grove and Peace Tree face off in the Elite Eight.
Porters and stouts bracket
In the stouts and porters bracket, West O Beer Coco Stout won over Pulpit Rock Brewing Co. $ticker $hock by five votes. Lake Time Brewery Oreo Speedwagon lost to SingleSpeed Brewing Co. Tip the Cow.
West O and SingleSpeed meet in the Elite Eight.
Wild card bracket
Confluence Brewing Co. Farmer John’s Multigrain Ale defeated Keg Creek Brick Red Ale, and Peace Tree Blonde Fatale beat Backpocket Brewing Forever True.
Confluence Brewing Co. takes on Peace Tree in the Elite Eight, a rematch of last year.
More:Your guide to 21 Des Moines metro breweries, taprooms and their craft beers
This year, 18 breweries elected to participate in Beer Brackets, each recommending a beer or four to compete. The seeds were randomly selected based on which beer the breweries suggested in each category. The Iowa Brewers Guild helped get the word out to breweries about the contest.
Similar to the NCAA hoops brackets, your favorites will battle it out with round-by-round voting through April 8 when a winner is announced. We’ll keep you posted every step of the way until a winner is declared.
This round of voting remains open until March 28; Final Four April 1-4; and finals April 5-7. The winner is announced April 8.
How can I vote in Beer Brackets?
You can register online at desmoinesregister.com/beerbrackets.
Which Iowa breweries won Beer Brackets in the past?
Last year, Peace Tree Brewing Co.‘s Blonde Fatale from the Knoxville brewery that has a location in the East Village in Des Moines won the competition, which had been on hiatus since 2019. That year, the winner was SingleSpeed Brewing‘s Tip The Cow. The brewery originally opened in 2012 in Cedar Falls and now has a location in Des Moines as well.
Fenders Brewing in Polk City won in 2018 with its Bridge Road brown ale.
Confluence Brewing Co. in Des Moines won with its Capital Gold Lager in 2017.
And in the first competition in 2016, West O Beer from Milford won with its CocO Stout.
Blonde Fatale, Tip the Cow and CocO Stout are in the Elite Eight this year.
More:How late can you buy beer in Iowa? All your Iowa liquor law questions answered
Head online to register and enter your vote for your favorite Iowa beer.
Susan Stapleton is the entertainment editor and dining reporter at The Des Moines Register. Follow her on Facebook, X, or Instagram, or drop her a line at sstapleton@gannett.com.
