I’ve been trying to figure out how to decide a winner in this match for several days now.  I knew after both of these beers advanced in the last round that it would be a tough call, and it would seem that was a correct guess.  For this round, I’ll be switching up how I write my posts.   These beers have already proven that they can compete with the best, but now it’s time to get down to it and figure out which one is truly the better brew.  To do this, I’ve decided to sit down and approach this round somewhat similarly to the “Describe yourself in three words” question that occasionally pops up in job interviews here and there.   While tasting these beers yet again, I’ve gone back and re-read my previous thoughts and my reasons for my earlier decisions to come up with the following (in no particular order):

In one corner, the Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA: Complete; impressive; stylistic; a definite “go-to” brew.

And in the other corner, the Southern Tier Phin and Matt’s Extraordinary Ale: Balanced; refreshing; reliable; truly extraordinary ale.

Check back later for my decision, and the winner of this match.  But, don’t forget to keep voting until the polls close at 3PM!

Here we are, the Final 8. Looking for some beer or at least non-copyright infringing puns to use for our final rounds but alas have had no luck yet. So today we have two beers that are not as similar as they appear. Look here for the info on the first I will discuss, the DogFish Head 90 Minute IPA. This beer is THE IPA as far as I’m concerned in this tournament, complex and rich hop flavors but a malted caramel sweetness throughout that gives it redrinkability and uniqueness that has carried it this far. I guess for this round I’m going to play the Devil’s Advocate and try and poke holes in what are otherwise stellar brews in the hopes of finding some kind of difference that would merit one advancing over another because we are at the best of the best. That said, I think the greatest weakness for the DogFish comes from the 90 Minute IPA having a bit of an identity crisis and could be considered the Jan Brady of the DogFish Brewing Co. In their pursuit of brewing excellence, DogFish also has a 60 Minute, 75 Minute, and 120 Minute IPA which all have similar characteristics. I call the 90 Minute the Jan Brady because its not as light and cute as 60 Minute Cindy and its not as rich and hot as 120 Minute Marsha, it is the middle beer (Ok, bear with me here, I love this beer and I’m doing my best). It is only when looking through this lens that the 90 Minute IPA could be considered the Jack of All Trades, Master of None.

Where DogFish runs into trouble as a beer that is overly defined and has competiton within its own brewery for #1, Southern Tier Phin & Matt’s Extraordinary Ale has the opposite problem. Okay, it is an extraordinary ale that is fantastic, but just calling it an ale may have gotten it this far. This stylistic carte blanche is nice because when one drinks this extraordinary ale, they have no preconceived notions of what an IPA should taste like, or a pilsner, or etc, they know simply that it is an ale. This doesn’t apply to just the linguistics the fine folks at Southern Tier use (and they really are awesome people), but if the beer fit a more specific category, say if it was an Extraordinary IPA, it may not be here because it wouldn’t fit the bill. If something such as beer genre is enough to separate the beers, Southern Tier could be gone. If not, and say, intrabrewery excellence is the deciding factor then the Extraordinary Ale could process to the Fermented 4. I’ll get back to you with the verdict shortly.

Well, the first match of Round 3 has come and gone, and it was certainly a good one. It wasn’t an easy match to call, but in the end it looks like most of you came to the same conclusion as the two of us here. In fact, an impressive 89% of you cast your votes for the Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA. Here’s why we called it like we did:

Brad: In my opinion this match likely should’ve been the championship as both of these beers are simply phenomenal. I can’t imagine a decision being more difficult. I think when it comes to the best IPA against the best hefeweizen I have to cast my vote for the DogFish Head 90 Minute IPA because its just a little bit more complex than its opponent. No doubt a trait of IPAs in general, but like I said in my review, the malted sweetness of this particular IPA gives it a dimension that I think makes it all but unbeatable. A very sincere thank you goes out to the folks at Spoetzl for making what is currently my second favorite beer, and best of luck to the 90 Minute IPA as it advances to the Final 8!

John: I have to vote for the Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA. The Shiner was good – exceptionally good, in fact – and well deserving to be in Round 3. But, the Dogfish brew is on a rampage, at least in my book.   Of all the IPAs initially in this tournament, I have finally decided that this might just be the best stylistic example yet. Often, I search for and find ways in which a beer is lacking or deficient. But with the 90 Minute, I’m searching for ways to improve it, yet still coming up empty. And ultimately, that’s what earned it my vote in today’s match.

Keep an eye on the Current Matches – we’ve uploaded the first poll for next week.  Vote early, vote often, and we’ll see you tomorrow!

I’m trying to find a new way to put this together because at this point you know what your going to get from these beers. Down to the nitty-gritty, today’s match pits the DogFish Head 90 Minute IPA which you can get background info here against the Spoetzl Shiner Hefeweizen which you can read about here. These brews are hard to compare because they are two of my personal favorites and I’ve enjoyed every one of these 2 beers I’ve had and starting the rounds with these beers has been a real treat, but now the time to compare these two is at hand and it is difficult to go about. The 90 Minute IPA is everything and IPA needs to be and it has the extra innovative element that makes some beers truly classic. It leads with hoppy flavors that are above the standard hoppy flavors. Many IPAs use overly bitter hops in their recipes which gives them a typical flavor of spices or something earthy and then a finish that is bitter or not impressive. The meticulously hopped 90 Minute IPA achieves a floral aroma and a floral/pine taste that is much different and above the norm. And intsead of a usual bitter “meh” finish, it brings a nice malted sweetness to the finish that adds an extra dimension to the beer and puts it far above the competition.

On the other hand is a more citrus-like beer that taught me about well-bodied crispness, the Shiner Hefeweizen. I used to think that crispness was something brewers used as a way to dress-up the fact that their beer was watered-down, but that is most certainly not the case here. The Shiner Hefeweizen may pour to a lighter color but there is certainly a ton of flavor in this brew. The smell is what really drew me to this beer originally, because it smells like citrus, fresh-cut grass, a really summery aroma with a taste that is equally as impressive. The Shiner Hefeweizen is also a best-in-class beer because it is complex, crisp, and smooth, for a beer that in all honesty you wouldn’t expect much of from the pour. Where the Shiner really excels is in its versatility. This beer does not blow you away and fill you up, it just serves as the perfect compliment to anything you could be doing, eating, or whatever at the time. Tailgating and grilling dogs and burgers? Perfect match. Sitting on the back porch enjoying the spring? Here’s your beer. Having a beer with friends just kicking back? You got it. Not only does the Shiner Hefeweizen go well with everything, it actually enhances the experience, making this beer certainly worthy to be here.

So this makes the decision near impossible today. Do I vote for the best IPA or the best Hefeweizen? Both beers are well-crafted, fit their type, can pair with a wide variety of things, and neither has a weakness that makes the other clearly better. I wanted to be more comparative today but it has been hard as they do all of the big things extremely well and the little things amazingly too. The differences between these beers are very minute, and arguments could be made for either one. So rather than list those things here, I think I’ll wait till my decision a little later on. Remember to vote and comment, this is where you really matter!

UPDATE: Click Here for Match Results!

And so it begins, Round 3 – the Final 16.  It’s been a long journey to get here, and I have a feeling the fun has only yet begun.  To keep things interesting, I’ll be switching up the style of my posts for this round, rather than my previous “review X, review Y” approach.  I’ll try my best to keep things interesting, and it all starts off today with a comparison of the Spoetzl Shiner Hefeweizen (reviewed previously here) and the Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA (here).

Both of these beers have a fantastic aroma – a great lemon grass from the Shiner brew, and a quality pine and floral presented in the Dogfish brew.  The taste of the 90 Minute IPA is more of the pine and floral combination, while the hefeweizen brings a fantastic overall sweetness that goes down smooth.  While both of these brews deserve to be in the third round of the inaugural tournament of Brewlimination, it’s time to dig dipper and figure out how to pick a winner between these two dissimilar beers.

The 90 Minute IPA is a fantastic stylistic example of an IPA, continuously hopped for ninety minutes and you can certainly notice. Needless to say, this IPA has an impressive “Wow” factor.  But, is that enough to beat out the perfect presence of the aroma and smooth sweetness in the Shiner Hefeweizen?  This will be a very interesting decision indeed.  Stay tuned!

UPDATE: Click Here for Match Results!

So its a slow Friday down here, and I figured I’d toss out my comments on the round and what happened, so that anyone who is just hopping on the Brewlimination bandwagon can see where we’ve been as we jump into these last couple weeks and ultimately crown our first King of Beers. By the way we have not received a great deal of suggestions so if you know of any beer you’d like to see incorporated into future runs of this tournament please email suggestions@brewlimination.com so your voice can be heard! We’re learning we have a powerful audience in the vote but not a very vocal one. Speak up! You know about as much about beer as we do!

Alrighty, now that that’s out of the way, here are the winners and a little taste at who they will be facing in the next round.

Shiner Hefeweizen def. Stone IPA will be facing the DogFish Head 90 Minute IPA which beat the Two Brothers Cane and Ebel by a large margin.

Magic Hat Lucky Kat jumped past the DogFish Head Raison D’Etre and will face the Southern Tier Phin and Matt’s Extraordinary Ale which won over the Bell’s Third Coast Beer to close out the first Division.

Flying Dog Old Scratch got by the Pyramid Haywire Hefeweizen and will match up against the Troegs Hopback Amber Ale that defeated the strong Harpoon Leviathan

In quite the shocker the Abita Purple Haze is still around after beating the Thirsty Dog Old Leghumper and will see if it can keep its drive alive against a Smutty Nose Star Island Single that triumped over the Sierra Nevada Kellerweis to end Division 2.

To start Division 3 we have play-in winner Weyerbacher Hops Infusion that looks to keep its upset streak going against the second Smutty Nose, Old Brown Dog which scored a victory over the Kona Fire Rock Pale Ale.

The second match sees competing styles square off as the Breckenridge Vanilla Porter faces the Victory Golden Monkey that killed my personal favorite beer in the tournament, the Fort Collins Rocky Mountain IPA.

The final division has beers that are fresh in your mind as we see the second play-in winner, the Great Divide Yeti Imperial Stout which beat the Troegs Double Bock as it faces the Great Lakes Eliot Ness a beer by the lake that had success against the other Fort Collins Brew, the Z Lager.

And the last beer that will make it into our Ultimate 8 will be either the Rogue Mocha Porter that just eliminated a strong Great Lakes Blackout Stout or it will be the Ommegang Hennepin Farmhouse Saison which just yesterday defeated the Heavy Seas Small Craft Warning in a sweep.

Well, in what feels like another upset given the pedigree of breweries it has faced thusfar, the Lucky Kat is still alive! Advancing to the round of 16 in a convincing sweep nonetheless. Here’s what our reviewers and you had to say about a very difficult match.

John: I would love to vote for the second Dogfish beer in as many days, but today I have to put my vote in for the Magic Hat Lucky Kat.  The complexity in the aroma simply keeps you interested, and the flavor profile doesn’t disappoint.  With a great finish and mouthfeel, I have to vote for this IPA to head on to Round 3.  The Raison D’Etre was a great beer, and I recommend that you give it a whirl.

Brad: As I said earlier, it was a question of innovation vs. completeness, and to my surprise I’m actually choosing on the side of the beer that sticks to its label a little more but is a complete and well rounded beer, the Magic Hat Lucky Kat. Kudos to DogFish and we know they will be pulling strong for the 90 Minute IPA in the next round but the Lucky Kat was really the star today. With a somewhat specialized beer for admittedly specialized tastes (if you aren’t a fan of sweet beer, the Raison is not going to be for you) the Raison D’Etre was, I felt, too limiting. The Lucky Kat has a bitter note, a sweet note, a pale feel to it but nothing lasts so long that it detracts from the overall impression of the beer, which is great. I say grab a Lucky Kat and see what all the fuss is about.

Fans: As you can see, you all chose the Magic Hat Lucky Kat by a 60-40 margin, but your votes today seemed to be more for “neither”. Many of the matches in the next several days have already accumulated more votes than today’s match did so it’s interesting to assess the fan support today. Perhaps some of our avid readers can fill us in as to why they didn’t vote, or why they voted elsewhere and skipped over today’s? Either way, Magic Hat had a voting rally where I think the DogFish fans were still celebrating with their 90 Minutes. Good luck to Magic Hat and perhaps a rematch will be looming in the Foamy Four?

Seeing the beers on tap (boo…) for today, I knew to start with the DogFish Head Raison D’Etre as it had, as I soon recalled, one of the more interesting flavors in the tournament. There was a bit of debate as to exactly what beet sugars were and if they contributed to the taste. Ultimately “beet sugar” is just fancy talk for regular sugar which is fine, but that doesn’t take away from the extremely unique flavors presented by this brew. Fruity but underscored by a port flavor that really gives this beer a refined taste, this brew really is in a class by itself. In this round I’ve been trying to give food pairings and times to drink to help paint an overall picture of the beers rather than the bare bones flavors and I must say this one has me stumped. I’d say this beer could be substituted really anywhere that a sweet side dish can be employed, I’m thinking Thanksgiving type food and this brew could replace the yams.  This is an innovative and delicious beer that tasted much better the second time around but does an outside the box mindset trump a brew from the company that lives outside the box?

It’s nearly impossible for one to bring up being outside the box and not mention the second beer’s brewery, the Magic Hat Lucky Kat. Known for brews like the “Not Quite Pale Ale”, one never knows what to expect from a Magic Hat other than a complex and flavorful brew, which I experienced last round. To say that the Lucky Kat is an IPA does it quite the injustice as there is a malted sweetness that hides underneath the typical hoppy IPA flavors of lemon, spice, and pine that adds a new dimension to the beer that really brings it around and gives it a sense of completeness. With beers that are this complete, I recommend them as stand alone drinkers because they have so many flavors they do not need a food pairing to enhance them, they stand very well on their own. Today, my decision will be based on innovation vs. completeness: Both beers are innovative and complete, but each holds a slight lead in one category or the other. Since that’s the only way to compare these without just saying “IPAz Rool!1!” or something along those lines, I’m going to reflect on these concepts and see which I prefer.

UPDATE: Click Here for Match Results!

When we made the schedule for this tournament, we neglected to include Labor Day as a day off, so here’s my thoughts for today’s match:

I started this week of Brewlimination with the Magic Hat Lucky Kat.  This beer really does have some fantastic head retention and lacing, with a nice amber-copper coloring.  And for those keeping score, yes, I am still a huge fan of the bottle packaging.  The aroma still came across as very complex – hops, earthy, citrus and pine, and possibly some caramel sweetness too.  Well, there’s some type of sweetness for certain at least.  This time around, I really noticed how the taste develops from a nice mild beginning – I love the earthy core – and into the citrus hops flavoring.  Finally, this IPA has one of the better finishes of those IPAs remaining in the tournament – not overly dry or bitter.

The Raison D’Etre was the second brew from Dogfish Head to advance to Round 2, and the second Dogfish beer in as many matches this round.  I still noticed the key aspects of this beer of a subtle complexity and a tasty sweetness.  But, I was able to pick up on the flavors of the aroma and taste much better this time, which may be partially attributable to daily tastings of beer for more than a month.  In a nutshell, this beer had a strong core of a roasted fruit and alcohol combination.  This beer is certainly an interesting brew, and well worth a test if you missed it during the last round.  As for me, I still have to figure out a winner for this match…

UPDATE: Click Here for Match Results!

The winner announcement is quite late today, so our apologies.  It was a great match, and hopefully the delay has helped to build some suspense.  Without any further delay, here’s how we voted:

John:  The Two Brothers Cane and Ebel was a fantastic beer, and one I will have to test out at least a few more times to get the complexities figured out a bit clearer.  However, I simply cannot find any reason to vote against the Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA, my pick for today.  This beer is a fantastic example of an IPA, and was even better the second time around (Step By Step intro reference anyone?).  It’ll be interesting to see just how far this beer makes it in the competition.

Brad: I’m not going to keep you too long today because my decision was fairly easy. Both of these beers are exemplary and worthy of a place in the sweet 16. That being said only one can advance and unfortunately for Two Brothers, their sweet 16 brew ran into a true classic in the form of the Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA, my choice for today. Kudos to both brews as today was an absolute joy to sample and I hope the 2 Brothers keep their head held high because they really know their Ales.

Fans:  You came out in force for this match, and the numbers certainly prove it.  The Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA took home an impressive 78% of the vote today, more than enough to earn it the sweep in today’s match and to propel it into Round 3.