Great NW Amber Ale Challenge: Results

Beer Luvvas,

I now have the results from Gooney Bird's Great NW Amber Ale Challenge. And if Beervana's readers find 'em, there will be another blog-storm, I'm sure!

Let's start with the most controversial item:

Biggest Upset: Fiddler's Green Amber (30th seed) over Hales Ales O'Brien's Harvest Ale (3rd seed)! Start the blog-fodder now!

I was also shocked by the 2nd round upset of #15 Portland Brewing's MacTarnahan's over #2 Speakeasy's Prohibition Ale. I've never been real fond of Mac's, even though it's been around PDX forever and I've consumed many, many, many pints/bottles of the stuff.

Now for the winners.....

Final Four:
Orange Bracket Winner: Full Sail Amber Ale
Blue Bracket Winner: Mad River Jamaica Red Ale
Red Bracket Winner: Humboldt Brewing Red Nectar Ale
Green Bracket Winner: Deschutes Green Lakes Organic Ale

Interesting notes on the Final Four:

• Six out of the Elite 8 beers are made in Oregon, the other two are from California.
• Both California beers advanced to the Final Four
• #12 Mad River Jamaica Red upset two Rouge beers (#5 American Amber & #4 Saint Rouge Red) in consecutive rounds to make the Final Four
• #8 Deschutes Green Lakes Organic Ale upset #1 Deschutes Cinder Cone Red in the Elite 8 to make the Final Four

The Championship Round:

Green Lakes Organic knocked off Jamaica Red; and Red Nectar Ale beat Full Sail Amber! The two higher seeds advanced to the final!

The Champion: Deschutes Green Lakes Organic!

Wow! Shocker! The organic beer won!

Stay tuned next post for the memorable quotes from the beer tasters. Needless to say, the winner was not the unanimous best beer - kinda like BCS for beer!

Prost to Gooney Bird & the second installment of the Great NW Beer Challenge!