The Elite Eight of the best Iowa beers remain in Beer Brackets. Vote now for your favorites

Susan Stapleton, Des Moines Register
·2 min read
A volunteer pours a beer inside the Iowa Craft Beer Tent at Hoops and Hops on Thursday, March 16, 2023, at Cowles Commons, in Des Moines, Iowa.
A volunteer pours a beer inside the Iowa Craft Beer Tent at Hoops and Hops on Thursday, March 16, 2023, at Cowles Commons, in Des Moines, Iowa.

Only eight beers remained in the Des Moines Register's Beer Brackets.

This round of Beer Brackets voting ended on March 17, and now eight Iowa beers remain to vie for bragging rights. This marks the fifth installment of letting readers vote to discover Iowa’s favorite craft beer brewed in the state.

We invite readers to vote for their favorites, sorted into four brackets with four breweries and their beers remaining in each. One bracket focuses on lagers and ales, another IPAs, a third features stouts and porters, and the fourth is a wild card category that could feature a fruity sour, a lambic, or any other type of beer.

So far, 1,771 people cast 36,157 votes to trim the contestants down to eight.

The closest race featured Confluence Brewing Co. Farmer John's Multi Grain Ale defeating SingleSpeed Brewing Ring Around the Gose by 16 votes.

Who are the Cinderella stories in Beer Brackets?

Three beers from Des Moines-based Confluence Brewing Co. make the Elite Eight with Farmer John's Multi Grain Ale, a 14 seed, and Milk Man Milk Stout, a 13 seed. Two beers from SingleSpeed Brewing Co. out of Waterloo made it to the Elite Eight.

The Beer Brackets Logo for 2023
The Beer Brackets Logo for 2023

Which Iowa breweries remain in Beer Brackets?

Ales, pilsners and similar bracket

1. Exile Brewing Co. Ruthie vs. 2. SingleSpeed Brewing Co. Gable Munich Helles

IPAs bracket

1. Big Grove Easy Eddy Hazy IPA vs. 2. Confluence Brewing Co. Des Moines IPA

Porters and stouts bracket

13. Confluence Brewing Co. Milk Man Milk Stout vs. 3. SingleSpeed Brewing Tip the Cow Cocoa Espresso Milk Stout

Wild card bracket

1. Peace Tree Brewing Blonde Fatale Belgian-style blonde ale vs. 14. Confluence Brewing Co. Farmer John's Multi Grain Ale

This year, around 30 breweries elected to participate in Beer Brackets, each recommending a beer or four to compete. The Iowa Brewers Guild helped us find the beers to highlight in the contest. The seeds were randomly selected based on which beer the breweries suggested in each category.

More:Your guide to 20 Des Moines metro breweries, taprooms and their craft beer

Similar to the NCAA hoops brackets, your favorites will battle it out with round-by-round voting through March 31, with a winner announced on April 3. We’ll keep you posted every step of the way until a winner is declared.

This round of voting remains open until March 22; Final Four March 24-27; and finals March 29-31.

In 2019, the last time the Des Moines Register held Beer Brackets, the winner was SingleSpeed Brewing, which originally opened in 2012 in Cedar Falls. Fenders Brewing in Polk City won in 2018. Confluence Brewing Co. in Des Moines won in 2017. And in the first competition in 2016, West O Beer from Milford won.



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Susan Stapleton is the entertainment editor at The Des Moines Register. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, or drop her a line at sstapleton@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: The best beer in Iowa is now down to 8 craft beers. Which will win?