2023 March Beer Madness - March 18-19 Round of 32!

Half the field has been eliminated from the Opening Round, and we begin to get more serious as half the remaining field will advance to the Sweet Sixteen scheduled for next Thursday and Friday.

All you need to participate is post a live picture of an eligible beer in this thread before Midnight PDT Sunday March 19. You can post up to two beers per tournament day over each of the next two days (0,1 or 2 beers on March 18 and March 19). The 32 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!

Also, we are instituting a new rule, no entries past midnight in your current location. Your location is the location listed in your profile for your first beer entry (see Excel spreadsheet). If you do not have a location for your first beer entry, the default will be GMT. If you change your location during the tournament, your OG location is the one effective for this tournament. I am implementing this to avoid a late rush of entries on or before midnight PDT, and avoid bickering, sandbagging, and to better administer the tournament.

Congratulations, all 34 current participants have won at least one game, and all have hopefully enjoyed each beer they entered! We are all winners!

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 32 Beers Eligible for Saturday and Sunday Tournament Play:
(Higher Seed (listed first) wins all ties, brackets retain integrity - i.e. no reseeding)

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

• (9) Trappist Westvleteren XII vs. (17) Saison Dupont
• (4) Guinness Draught vs. (5) Duval Moortgat Duvel
• (7) Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout vs. (15) Schneider Weisse Tap 6: Mein Aventinus
• (11) Orval Trappist Ale vs. (14) Westmalle Trappist Tripel

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

• (1) Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA vs. (8) Ommegang Three Philosophers
• (4) Samuel Adams Boston Lager vs. (12) Allagash White
• (7) Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout vs. (15) Dieu du Ciel! Peche Mortel
• (3) Unibroue La Fin Du Monde vs. (11) Maine Lunch

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

• (1) Founders Breakfast Stout vs. (9) Toppling Goliath Pseudo Sue
• (4) 3 Floyds Zombie Dust vs. (5) Oskar Blues Ten FIDY
• (2) Bell's Two Hearted Ale vs. (7) Prairie Artisan Ales Bomb!
• (11) Fat Head's Head Hunter vs. (14) Dark Horse Plead The 5the Imperial Stout

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

• (1) Russian River Pliny The Elder vs. (8) Rogue Dead Guy Ale
• (12) AleSmith Speedway Stout vs. (13) Firestone Walker Parabola
• (2) Ballast Point Sculpin vs. (7) Lagunitas A Little Sumpin' Sumpin' Ale
• (3) North Coast Old Rasputin vs. (11) Deschutes The Abyss

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

 

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.
• NEW RULE EFFECTIVE 3/18 - You must enter all beers each day before midnight in your location in your profile as of your first tournament entry. No exceptions.
• 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.
• The higher seed will advance for all tied games, including all unplayed games (no beers posted). For the Final Four and Championship Games, tie breaker for same seeds is the beer with the most points prior to the round. If still tied, number of BA ratings.

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 three.

• Golden Das Beer 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)
• Around the World Award - Awarded to the Beer Advocate who ticked the most beers.

 

Clarification on the Around the World Trophy (Added above) - The winner is the participant who played the most different beers (not the most total beers) throughout the tournament. Wins and losses are not a factor.

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

What Beer Advocates Are Involved?
Everyone is eligible to play. So far we have:

• 34 Participants across 20 states and also France
• Illinois currently has the most participants (5).

Beer Advocate Championship Beer Bracket Link through 3/17/23:
https://challonge.com/ovsvj1ig.svg

Updated Individual Championship Bracket Link through 3/17/23:
https://1drv.ms/x/s!AhetTCHUXA-WgROWrOzSovdzJgKA

Current 2023 March Beer Madness Championship Leaders:
83 jvgoor3786; 78 meanmutt; 75 Qu3st; 73 UWDAWG; 66 DoctorZombies

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

Current 2023 March Beer Madness Around The World Trophy Leaders:
6: UWDAWG; 5 jvgoor3786; ChicagoJ; DoctorZombies; TommyG22; jmdrpi; 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 through the Round of 64: 111

• 24 (Play-in Round)
• 87 (Round of 64)

Scoring results entering the current round:

• Favorite Wins: 13
• Underdog Wins: 15
• Ties: 4
• Games without a beer: 4

Independent Breweries Record: 20-19-6-1
Play in round 2-2-4-0; Round of 64 18-17-2-1

Other Breweries Record: 8-9-2-7
Round of 64 8-9-2-7

Seed Records (Wins / Losses / Ties / No Beer)
One 3-1-0-0; Two 1-2-0-1; Three 1-2-0-1; Four 2-1-1-0; Five 1-2-0-1; Six 0-4-0-0;
Seven 3-0-0-1; Eight 1-2-1-0; Nine 2-1-1-0; Ten 0-3-0-1; Eleven 4-0-0-0;
Twelve 2-1-0-1; Thirteen 1-2-1-0; Fourteen 2-1-0-1; Fifteen 2-1-0-1;
Sixteen 1-2-2-0 Seventeen 2-3-2-0

Total 2023 First Annual March Beer Madness Thread Posts through the Play-in Round: 367 = 57 (Planning) + 88 (Play-in).+ 222 (Round of 64)

 

Second new to me beer this tournament, should have entered the lamb before it was led to slaughter against Guinness, just so it could have a point on the board before bowing out.

Oskar Blues Ten FIDY


This beer is quite excellent.

 

My bracket went down in the play in round with the lower seed prevails tie-breaker rule. Glad I can continue to focus on enjoying a wide range of beers like I try to do day by day.

Added the Around the World Award to encourage exploration for the majority of us who will have busted individual brackets after the next few rounds. In addition to the side awards, I think there are many folks who also personally want a specific beer or two to win the overall championship, either to support their state or region, or for personal loyalty / appreciation toward a beer or brewery.

This may become the Saison Dupont Invitational if they can get past Guinness, which may have some palate fatigue after St. Patrick’s Day. Would likely have been the Budweiser Invitational (66 seed points) if we went with the OG proposed format.

 

No and sorry I wasn’t as clear as I was in the first two rounds about emphasizing no variants. Strictly Guinness Draught counts for that entry, though it can be delivered via cask, nitro, can or bottle. Will reinstate that verbiage with the rules next round.

Thanks

 

This would work better, or perhaps limit an individual beer selection to one per day or round, to have a broader range of beers and strategies.

For Round one, there were two people who selected Guinness twice yesterday for St. Patrick's Day for max celebration or tradition, not max points.

There were only three participants who selected the same beer twice within one of the two days of Round One. One of these three clearly had a local passion selection with the Dark Horse selection, one of the beers I didn't think would have been selected at all but glad it was, even though it knocked out the Daleks, I mean Bourbon County Brand Stout.

There are 21 beers that have been eliminated with 0 beers enjoyed during the tournament (1 in the play-in round, 20 in round one). Four remain without a single pour, and I hope each has at least one vote this weekend. I'm going to buy one or two if they remain open later today, before the nearby store closes (it's too cold to venture beyond 4 total blocks today).

• Europe Region - Duvel
• Atlantic Region - Unibroue La Fin Du Monde
• Pacific Region - Ballast Point Sculpin
• Pacific Region - Lagunitas A Little Sumpin' Sumpin'

 

Yes, and each of us have different beers available in our stores, and different interests in participating, whether focusing on individual brackets, exploring new beers, returning to old favorites, or supporting their favorite beer or brewery.

I hope everyone enjoys / continues to enjoy their participation in whatever manner they choose, and people continue to enjoy the tournament regardless of the status of individual bracket scoring. Things can possibly open up a bit depending on the results of a likely Guinness Draught vs. Saison Dupont Sweet Sixteen matchup next Thursday and Friday.