Evening Edge
What’s For Dinner?
The big draft
Beer for your brackets
Eastern beers here
- FIRST PART: Vote for the best Eastern beer on this page.
- NEXT STEP: Western Beer Bracket preview and poll
What are you drinking as you watch the college basketball tournaments? Just for fun, we've matched up a Draft 16 of tasty American craft beers in a mock tournament. From local Atlanta ales to lagers and wheat beers from the East and West, they're all winners. But based on ratings from the two biggest beer geek Web sites -- RateBeer (www.ratebeer.com) and Beer Advocate (www.beeradvocate.com) -- plus a bit of kibitzing and coin flipping, we picked the best of the brews. Your job is to help us choose a champion. (No prizes, folks. Just pure brew glory.)
In round 1, we'll let you vote for your favorite among the Eastern and Western division beers. Check back on April 3, and we'll open voting on the Bottled Four, the two tops in the two divisions. And that's how you'll choose the champion brew.
--Bob Townsend, for Evening Edge
Bob Townsend is is beer columnist for the AJC and editor of Southern Brew News, a bimonthly beer publication distributed throughout the Southeast. E-mail him at btowns@bellsouth.net.
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Sweetwater 420 Extra Pale Ale Sweetwater Brewing Co., Atlanta Crisp, easy-drinking pale ale that's become the most popular craft brew in Atlanta. RateBeer rating: 3.36; Beer Advocate rating: 3.75. |
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Terrapin Rye Pale Ale Terrapin Beer Co., Athens Rye is the spicy special ingredient in this very well balanced but hoppy American pale ale. RateBeer rating: 3.53; Beer Advocate rating: 3.95 |
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Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Milton, Del. A session IPA, with pronounced, but not overpowering, citrusy hop presence. RateBeer rating: 3.76; Beer Advocate rating: 4.07 |
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Highland Gaelic Ale Highland Brewing Co., Asheville, N.C. Malty amber American ale with a nice touch of earthy hops. RateBeer rating: 3.31; Beer Advocate rating: 3.86 |
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Atlanta Red Brick Blonde Atlanta Brewing Co. A recent gold medal winner, with an approachable, malt-oriented flavor and light hop finish. RateBeer rating: 2.69; Beer Advocate rating: 3.38 |
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Victory Prima Pils Victory Brewing Co., Downingtown, Pa. A classy quencher, and a prime example of how good a well-made, fresh pilsner can be. RateBeer rating: 3.61; Beer Advocate rating: 4.04 |
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Brooklyn Lager Brooklyn Brewery, Brooklyn N.Y. An American take on malty Vienna lager, this is a flavorful food beer, with some flowery hops. RateBeer rating: 3.42; Beer Advocate rating: 3.83 |
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Allagash White Allagash Brewing Company, Portland, Maine A light, refreshing interpretation of a traditional Belgian wheat beer, flavored with orange and spice. RateBeer rating: 3.53; Beer Advocate rating: 4.05 |
| Eastern bracket: Choose the champion among these beers. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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- NEXT STEP: Western Beer Bracket preview and poll
- • Game-watching recipes and takeout, EveningEdge.com
- • NCAA Tournament coverage, ajc.com
- • Blog: What foods go best with NCAA tourney?, ajc.com
- • Atlanta Sports Bars, accessAtlanta.com
- • Bob Townsend's beer column, ajc.com
JUST FOR FUN
If you made it this far, you are way too serious about beer. Just for fun, you can make your own bracket to print, save or e-mail to your best drinking buddies. (Sorry bar pals, this isn't counted in the championship vote.)