2023 March Beer Madness - March 16-17 Round of 64!

Welcome to the kickoff of the full 2023 March Beer Madness Tournament!

On Thursday and Friday, 64 beers will face off in a bid to advance to the Round of 32 which will be held this Saturday and Sunday.

All you need to participate is post a live picture of an eligible beer in this thread before Midnight PDT Saint Patrick's Day (March 17) in the contest in this thread. You can post up to two beers per tournament day over each of the next two days (0,1 or 2 beers on March 16 and March 17). The eligible beers are in the linked bracket below, and also presented below with a link to the BA page.

Full rules are contained in the next post. Thank you for your interest, and may the best Beer and Beer Advocate win!

Updated Beer Advocate Championship Beer Bracket Link:
https://challonge.com/ovsvj1ig.svg

Updated Individual Championship Bracket Link:
https://1drv.ms/x/s!AhetTCHUXA-WgROWrOzSovdzJgKA

Round of 64 Beers Eligible for Thursday and Friday Tournament Play: (Higher Seed wins all ties)

Europe Region (Host Beer Bar: Kulminator - Antwerpen, Belgium)

(1) St. Bernardus Abt 12 (#5 Quadrupel - Watou, Belgium)
(17) Saison Dupont (#166 Saison - Tourpes, Belgium)'

(8) Ayinger Celebrator (#1 Doppelbock - Aying, Germany)
(9) Trappist Westvleteren XII (#1 Quadrupel - Westvleteren, Belgium)

(4) Guinness Draught (#98 Irish Dry Stout - Dublin, Ireland)
(13) Spaten-Franziskaner Premium Weissbier (#11 Hefeweizen - Munchen, Germany)

(5) Duval Moortgat Duvel (#1 Belgian Pale Strong Ale - Breendonk-Puurs, Belgium)
(12) Hoegaarden Original White Ale (#81 Witbier - Hoegaarden, Belgium)

(2) Trappistes Rochefort 10 (#3 Quadrupel - Rochefort, Belgium)
(15) Schneider Weisse Tap 6: Mein Aventinus (#1 Weizenbock - Kelheim, Germany)

(7) Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout (#22 Oatmeal Stout - Tadcaster, England)
(10) Huyghe Delirium Tremens (#8 Belgian Pale Strong Ale - Melle, Belgium)

(3) Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier (#1 Hefeweizen - Freising, Germany)
(14) Westmalle Trappist Tripel (#3 Tripel - Malle, Belgium)

(6) Chimay Bleue (#4 Belgian Dark Strong Ale - Baileux, Belgium)
(11) Orval Trappist Ale (#1 Belgian Pale Ale - Villers-devant-Orval, Belgium)


Atlantic Region (Host Beer Bar: Monk's Cafe - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

(1) Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA (#291 Imperial IPA - Milton, Delaware)
(16) Tree House Julius (#5 New England IPA - Charlton, Massachusetts)

(8) Ommegang Three Philosophers (#42 Quadrupel - Cooperstown, New York)
(9) Victory Golden Monkey (#220 Tripel - Downingtown, Pennsylvania)

(4) Samuel Adams Boston Lager (#55 Vienna Lager - Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts)
(13) Ithaca Flower Power (#100 American IPA - Ithaca, New York)

(5) Cigar City Jai Alai (#50 American IPA - Tampa, Florida)
(12) Allagash White (#3 Witbier - Portland, Maine)

(2) The Alchemist Heady Topper (#1 Imperial IPA - Stowe, Vermont)
(15) Dieu du Ciel! Peche Mortel (#200 American Imperial Stout - Montreal, Quebec)

(7) Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout (#246 Russian Imperial Stout - Brooklyn, New York)
(10) Lawson's Sip of Sunshine (#6 Imperial IPA - Waitsfield, Vermont)

(3) Unibroue La Fin Du Monde (#2 Tripel - Chambly, Quebec)
(14) Smuttynose Finestkind IPA (#402 American IPA - Hampton, New Hampshire)

(6) Troegs Nugget Nectar (#1 Imperial Red Ale - Hershey, Pennsylvania)
(11) Maine Lunch (#11 American IPA - Freeport, Maine)


Central Region (Host Beer Bar: The Beer Temple - Chicago, Illinois)

(1) Founders Breakfast Stout (#2 Oatmeal Stout - Grand Rapids, Michigan)
(17) Perennial Artisan Ales Abraxas (#104 American Imperial Stout - Saint Louis, Missouri)

(8) Surly Furious (#43 American IPA - Brooklyn Center, Minnesota)
(9) Toppling Goliath Pseudo Sue (#5 American Pale Ale - Decorah, Iowa)

(4) 3 Floyds Zombie Dust (#1 American Pale Ale - Munster, Indiana)
(13) Half Acre Daisy Cutter (#85 American Pale Ale - Chicago, Illinois)

(5) Oskar Blues Ten FIDY (#273 American Imperial Stout - Lyons, Colorado)
(12) New Belgium 1554 (#7 European Dark Lager - Fort Collins, Colorado)

(2) Bell's Two Hearted Ale (#49 American IPA - Kalamazoo, Michigan)
(15) Epic Big Bad Baptist (#341 American Imperial Stout - Salt Lake City, Utah)

(7) Prairie Artisan Ales Bomb! (#74 American Imperial Stout - Tulsa, Oklahoma)
(10) Boulevard Tank 7 (#184 Saison - Kansas City, Missouri)

(3) Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout (#21 American Imperial Stout - Chicago, Illinois)
(14) Dark Horse Plead The 5the Imperial Stout (#87 Russian Imperial Stout - Marshall, Michigan)

(6) Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald (#8 American Porter - Cleveland, Ohio)
(11) Fat Head's Head Hunter (#23 American IPA - North Olmsted, Ohio)


Pacific (Host Beer Bar: Toronado - San Francisco, California)

(1) Russian River Pliny The Elder (#3 Imperial IPA - Santa Rosa, California)
(17) Alaskan Smoked Porter (#5 Smoked Porter - Juneau, Alaska)

(8) Rogue Dead Guy Ale (#14 Maibock - Newport, Oregon)
(9) Green Flash West Coast IPA (#98 American IPA - San Diego, California)

(4) Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (#225 American Pale Ale - Chico, California)
(13) Firestone Walker Parabola (#3 Russian Imperial Stout - Paso Robles, California)

(5) Stone IPA (#122 American IPA - Escondido, California)
(12) AleSmith Speedway Stout (#274 American Imperial Stout - San Diego, California)

(2) Ballast Point Sculpin (#10 American IPA - San Diego, California)
(15) Alpine Duet (#22 American IPA - Alpine, California)

(7) Lagunitas A Little Sumpin' Sumpin' Ale (#123 American IPA - Peteluma, California)
(10) Bear Republic Racer 5 (#154 American IPA - Cloverdale, California)

(3) North Coast Old Rasputin (#85 Russian Imperial Stout - Fort Bragg, California)
(14) Anchor Steam Beer (#4 California Common / Steam Beer - San Francisco, California)

(6) Arrogant Consortia Bastard Ale (#56 American Strong Ale - Escondido, California)
(11) Deschutes The Abyss (#102 American Imperial Stout - Bend, Oregon)


Final Four & Beer Advocate Beer Championship Game: (Host Beer Bar: The Silver Stamp - Las Vegas, Nevada)

• Europe Champion vs. Pacific Champion
• Atlantic Champion vs. Central Champion

Eliminated Play-in Beers: To be determined.

 

Official 2023 March Beer Madness Rules

How can I participate?

• Post a picture of a beer you are enjoying (live) among the eligible beers.
• If you post a draft or cask beer, you must identify the name of the beer in your post or picture to obtain a vote (BA and Individual Brackets).
• One beer per post / photo and use your own photos please. Honor system will be used.

How many beers can I drink and post in a day?

• Participants can post either 0, 1 or 2 beers per day throughout the tournament.
• You cannot carry-forward / back your allotment. Two beers is the limit for each tournament day.
• Beers posted exceeding your allotment will not be counted for the BA Bracket nor Individual Brackets.

How will we determine the Champion Beer? The beer advancing through the championship round will be crowned Beer Advocate 2023 March Beer Madness Champion Beer.

• The beer with the most posts in a round will advance.
• Each round starts anew, beer scores don't carry-forward.
• For all tournament games effective with the Round of 64, the higher seed will advance for all tied games, including all unplayed games (no beers posted).

How will we determine the Champion Beer Advocate? The Beer Advocate accumulating the most tournament points will be crowned 2023 March Beer Madness Champion Beer Advocate.

• For each beer you post in a round that advances to the next round, you are awarded points based on the seed number (1 through 17 for each of the four regions).
• Pick and enjoy your beers wisely and safely.

Are there also individual trophies awarded? Yes, there are two.

• Golden Das Boot Award - Awarded to the Beer Advocate with the most posts of the Champion Beer.
• Robert Montgomery Knight Award - Awarded to the Beer Advocate with the most beers which advanced during the entire tournament (26 total possible)

 

Bracketology

What Beers, Breweries, Styles and Regions Are Involved?

• 68 Competing Beers & Breweries
• 29 Competing Beer Styles
  
• 9 Top Ranked Beers Within A Style
• 23 Top Five Ranked Beers Within A Style
  
• 6 Nations
• 23 States
• 28 of the Top 43 Most Popular Beers as rated on BA

Beer Advocate Championship Beer Bracket Link through 3/15/23:
https://challonge.com/ovsvj1ig.svg

Updated Individual Championship Bracket Link through 3/15/23:
https://1drv.ms/x/s!AhetTCHUXA-WgROWrOzSovdzJgKA

Current 2023 March Beer Madness Championship Leaders:
34: @UWDAWG ; @jvgoor3786 ; @meanmutt

Current 2023 March Beer Madness Golden Das Beer Boot Trophy Leaders:
2: @UWDAWG ; @jvgoor3786 ; @meanmutt ; @Qu3st

Current 2023 March Beer Madness Robert Montgomery Knight Trophy Leaders: To be determined following completion of the Championship Game held April 1-2.

Total Beers Posted entering the current round: 24 (Play-in Round)

Scoring results entering the current round:

• Favorite Wins: 1
• Underdog Wins: 1
• Ties: 2

Total 2023 First Annual March Beer Madness Thread Posts through the Play-in Round: 145 = 57 (Planning) + 88 (Play-in).

 

When I open the Excel file on my PC, it shows view only, and the edit mode is gray screened / inactive. It's easy to navigate on the PC, but noted there was a delay when I scrolled up or down on the phone. I retained the freeze panes to keep the scores / participants locked, and allow users to scroll and see the whole tournament once we go deeper.

I am open to any suggestions, either via DM or in this thread, to improve the link, edit mode and or view options. This is the first time I linked an Excel file online, despite the fact I've been a user since inception, and Lotus 1-2-3 predating Excel.

I also apologize for the large amounts of beers one must scroll through in the opening post. I will place eligible beers in a separate post for the Round of 32 to make the initial posts easier to navigate / understand. Any other helpful suggestions are appreciated as well to help people understand, navigate and enjoy.

Thank you!

Jason

 

Wow, well I need a drink at this point, so opening the Round of 64 with the first really wow moment in my pre-craft days, though it was a variant of this I was first introduced to (Goose Island Proprietor 2014) shared by my brother at Thanksgiving. I opened an account here a few months later and the rest is history.

Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout (#3 Seed out of the Central Region)



This is tasting great as always, and I'm pulling for both Chicago beers (Half Acre Daisy Cutter the second participant) to do well this round and hopefully beyond!

Enjoy your beers and the tournament in the lead up to Saint Patrick's Day and the Friday late night conclusion to the Opening Round! Hope people who watch the basketball enjoy the day as well.

Cheers!

 

Yes, it will come down to most people picking a few beers they enjoy, and others perhaps buying a four pack and trying to push their beer the independent bracket title. I came in with the intent to buy and enjoy various beers, with some rooting interests for sure, but not trying to maximize my individual tournament points. I am enjoying facilitating, and also have a greater interest in trying to push through a championship beer and brewery I really enjoy by votes, perhaps posts of encouragement as well as we push through Weeks 2 and 3.

Everything is wide open at this point, and I'm interested to see how this all plays out.

Cheers!

 

I will track two more components in the Bracketology thread, more if people reply with additional stats that are feasible to track.

The first is total number of participants in the tournament. The second is the winning record of "Independent" breweries vs. breweries either majority owned by public stockowners, hedge funds, other entities or other breweries (or majority owners of multiple breweries).

This is not the same definition as the Brewers Association, but we will run with my definition. I'm open to input in terms of my classifications.

I'm listing the brewery only for this post (excluding the beers in the tournament).

Current Records (Play-in Round):

• Independents (38 Total): 3-2-2
• Others (30 Total): 0-1-0

Europe

Independents (12): (1) St. Bernardus; (2) Rochefort; (6) Chimay; (7) Samuel Smith; (8) Ayinger; (9) Westvleteren; (10) Huyghe; (11) Orval; (14) Westmalle; (15) G. Schneider & Sohn; (16) Verhaeghe; (17) Dupont.

Others (5): (3) Staatsbrauerei (Bavarian Government) Weihenstephan; (4) Diageo Guinness; (5) Duvel Moortgat; (12) InBev Hoegaarden; (13) InBev Spaten-Franziskaner.

Atlantic Region

Independents (10): (2) The Alchemist; (6) Troegs; (7) Brooklyn; (10) Lawson's; (11) Maine Beer Co; (12) Allagash; (13) Ithaca; (15) Dieu du Ciel!; (16) Tree House; (17) Evil Twin.

Others (7): (1) Boston Beer Dogfish Head; (3) Sapporo Unibroue; (4) Boston Beer Samuel Adams; (5) Monster Beverage Cigar City; (8) Duvel Moortgat Ommegang; (9) Artisanal Brewing Ventures Victory; (14) Runnymede Investments Smuttynose.

Central Region

Independents (9): (4) Three Floyds; (6) Great Lakes; (8) Surly; (9) Toppling Goliath; (11) Fat Head's; (13) Half Acre; (15) Epic Brweing; (16) New Glarus; (17) Perennial Artisan Ales.

Others (8): (1) Mahou San Miguel Founders; (2) Kirin Bell's; (3) InBev Goose Island; (5) Fireman Capital Partners Oskar Blues; (7) Krebs Brewing Company Prairie Artisan Ales; (10) Duvel Moortgat Boulevard; (12) Kirin New Belgium; (14) Roak Brewing Dark Horse.

Pacific

Independents (7): (1) Russian River; (3) North Coast; (4) Sierra Nevada; (8) Rogue; (11) Deschutes; (12) AleSmith; (16) Alaskan.

Others (10): (2) Kings and Convicts Ballast Point; (5) Sapporo Stone Brewing Co.; (6) Sapporo Arrogant Consortia; (7) Heineken Lagunitas; (9) Tilray Green Flash; (10) Drake's Brewing Bear Republic; (13) Duvel Moortgat Firestone Walker; (14) Sapporo Anchor; (15) Tilray Alpine Beer Co.; (17) Uptown Market, LLC Logsdon Farmhouse Ales.

Note - Not positive if Sapporo also owns Arrogant Consortia.

Know what company puts the beer in your glass.

 

Just an homage to my favorite beer bars within each region, a couple I have yet to visit personally, but heard great things about.

 

I thought about going 3 per day first weekend, 2 per day second and 1 per day final weekends, but thought that may be too confusing, so went with two a day, every day.

Hope these are one of your 21 beers, a nice 12 seed if this advances.

Allagash White (12 Seed in the Atlantic Region)



Plenty of opportunities to jump on open games as we head to the evening on the American East Coast.

Europe Region
Ayinger Celebrator vs. Trappist Westvleteren XII
Duvel vs. Hoegaarden White
Rochefort 10 vs. Schneider Weisse Tap 6: Mein Aventinus
Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier vs. Westmalle Tripel
Chimay Bleue vs. Orval Trappist Ale

Atlantic Region
Ommegang Three Philosophers vs. Victory Golden Monkey
Samuel Adams Boston Lager vs. Ithaca Flower Power
Alchemist Heady Topper vs. Dieu du Ciel! Peche Mortel
Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout vs. Lawson's Sip of Sunshine
Unibroue La Fin Du Monde vs. Smuttynose Finestkind IPA
Troegs Nugget Nectar vs. Maine Lunch @vabeerguy

Central Region
Surly Furious vs.Toppling Goliath Pseudo Sue
Oskar Blues Ten FIDY vs. New Belgium 1554
Prairie Artisan Ales Bomb! vs. Boulevard Tank 7

Pacific Region
Russian River Pliny The Elder vs. Alaskan Smoked Porter @TheIPAHunter
Rogue Dead Guy Ale vs. Green Flash West Coast IPA
Stone IPA vs. AleSmith Speedway Stout @Resistance88
Ballast Point Sculpin vs. Alpine Duet
Lagunitas A Little Sumpin' Sumpin' Ale vs. Bear Republic Racer 5
North Coast Old Rasputin vs. Anchor Steam Beer @Resistance88
Arrogant Consortia Bastard Ale vs. Deschutes The Abyss

 

Nice Diaper Dandies!