How can you not call this the more laid back of the two matches? Today has a banjo-strummin’ turtle and a day of fishing, the other match has the brewing world’s Mona Lisa and a deep, mysterious forest.

Anyway, what is there left to say about the Terrapin Rye Pale Ale, that I didn’t sum up in the last round? This beer has everything that a daily drinker should have, it has basic flavors that appeal to new drinkers with unique takes that more seasoned quaffers can appreciate. And, perhaps most importantly, this beer is the same beer every time. You don’t have to worry with this one about keeping the temperature exact for fear of freezing or skunking it because it is going to be the same brew every time, which is a big credit to Terrapin for figuring out how to make a beer that isn’t fragile. Finally, something that is often overlooked in these reviews, this beer tastes incredible. It packs a lot of flavor into a tougher rye pale genre while still staying true to the genre. Drink today’s match and you’ll find yourself with a beer that has it all no matter how you decide.

Our inaugural tournament saw a wealth of incredible IPAs, yet a Brown Ale and an “Extraordinary” Ale made the final. What makes the SweetWater IPA more deserving of the first finalist IPA? Well as I pointed out in the last match, this brew is an incredibly flavorful brew, perhaps more flavorful that its opponent today. The problem as we will see today, is that everything in the beer world is a tradeoff, and today is no different. The SweetWater is the more flavorful beer, but at the price of consistency. There are a lot of fruit flavors which make for an incredible drinking experience, but if you were to have 2 or 3 at one time, you could still be picking up new flavors by the end of the third beer. This is the best problem to have in the beer world as the only possible knock I could think of is that this beer was too flavorful. Today is the classic match of consistency vs. explosiveness. Which will win: the tortoise or the fish?

UPDATE: Click Here for Match Results!