A tradition with friends

It started in a friend’s back yard in California with a bracket of 32 beers. As fun as it was, the format was chaos and after the first round of elimination, we could barely wrangle people to vote. We carried the tradition when we moved to the DC area and decided that 16 was the right number. We started with close friends and family. Over the years, the interest in the event grew, as did our planning and organization skills.

Recently, we hosted 80 people for the event. We have annual themes and very thoughtful planning put into every decision ranging from swag to beer selection. The Beer Bracket Planning Committee (BBPC) spends countless hours sampling and selecting beers, taking diligent notes and putting thoughtful consideration into each pairing.

We start with 16 beers, all are wrapped or in unmarked containers. Each participant has two tasting glasses in front of them. We pour the two beers and everyone votes on their favorite beer. The loser is eliminated immediately and revealed. The winner moves on to the next round. We go through all 16 beers and then the field narrows each round to the final 8, final 4, final 2, and after all 4 rounds of tasting, a champion is crowned!