Hop Madness 2016 Winner: Independence’s Stash IPA

Apr 06, 2016
| in Beer, Culture
| by
| ,

The Madness has run its course, and a winner has been chosen by you, our patrons! We’re proud to announce that Austin’s Favorite IPA is an Austin Native: Independence Brewing Company’s Stash IPA. 

Here’ how it all went down, round by round, with the beers from each round revealed and ranked:

Austin
1. Independence’s Stash IPA
2. Black Star Co-op’s Vulcan Rye IPA
3. Red Horn’s Hapslappy IPA
4. Live Oak’s Liberation IPA

Texas
1. Community’s Mosaic IPA
2. Cedar Creek’s Dankosaurus
3. Real Ale’s Lost Gold IPA
4. Shannon’s IPA

USA
1. Odell’s IPA
2. Harpoon’s IPA
3. Stone’s IPA
4. Lagunitas’s IPA

FINAL FOUR
1. Independence’s Stash IPA (Austin – Tie)
2. Community Mosaic IPA (Texas)
3. Odell’s IPA (USA)
4. Black Star Co-op’s Vulcan Rye IPA (Austin – Tie)

The final four, and really the whole tournament, played out pretty much as you might expect. If we had decided seed the beers going into the tournament, we’d have seen few upsets. So maybe Hop Madness wasn’t as exciting as the basketball tournament for which it’s named, so what?  We got to drink a hell of a lot of good beer!

So what do y’all think about this year’s Hop Madness? You voted your picks through the whole month of March, how did they do? Share your thoughts in the comments below.