Editor's note: Voting for the Ale-ite Eight is now closed, but come back Friday to make your picks in the Foamy Four.
The results of the Sudsy Sixteen are in, and while there were no upsets this time around, this new lineup of heavyweights makes for some pretty killer matchups ahead.
Surly vs. Summit? Wow, instant classic. The return of Danger Danger (Castle Danger vs. Dangerous Man)? Feels like we're back in the '80s. (Yep, that's a glam rock reference!) The reigning New Ulm champ vs. downtown Minneapolis chic (Schell's vs. Fulton)? Get your popcorn ready! It's time for the Ale-ite Eight.
Winning its match by the largest margin (and receiving 1,410 more votes than No. 1-seed Surly), 3-seed Bent Paddle is challenging for the role of new favorite. Next up, the Duluth brew will go head-to-head with Indeed – which squeezed out a victory via the smallest vote margin of any beer team, but who also had the toughest competitor by far.
Meanwhile, a new, intriguing dark horse has stepped up to the gate in 6-seed Dangerous Man, which received the greatest vote total; count their clash with a solid Castle Danger squad as the matchup to watch (preferably to the soundtrack of Bang Bang).**
Honestly, is anything on a basketball court comparing to this??? OK maybe. That UMBC upset over Virginia was pretty wild. But this will also be great because beer and strong opinions can never fail. And if your favorite brewery loses, guess what – you can still drink their swill all year. That's right – unlike the NCAA, we won't force them off campus for the summer.
And check out our further analysis on the results, below. Here's how the Sudsy Sixteen went down:
Surly (1) – 8,805 votes (66 percent)
Bad Weather (16) – 4,551 votes (34 percent)
Castle Danger (2) – 8,457 votes (63 percent)
Steel Toe (15) – 4,903 (37 percent)
Bent Paddle (3) – 9,415 votes (71 percent)
Bauhaus (14) – 3,899 votes (29 percent)
Schell's (4) – 7,413 votes (56 percent)
Junkyard (13) – 5,899 votes (44 percent)
Summit (5) – 7,707 votes (58 percent)
Fair State (12) – 5,627 votes (42 percent)
Dangerous Man (6) – 9,428 votes (71 percent)
Insight (11) – 3,907 votes (29 percent)
Indeed (7) – 7,090 votes (53 percent)
Barrel Theory – 6,245 votes (47 percent)
Fulton (8) – 7,829 votes (59 percent)
Lift Bridge (9) – 5,499 votes (41 percent)
Some more thoughts!
- While there were no blowouts, Barrel Theory came the closest to threatening, holding onto a chance to close the gap until the final few hours. Ultimately, Indeed took the "W" with 53 percent of the votes – that low margin, though, isn't so much a representation of Indeed's weakness but Barrel Theory's strength. The new brewery's 6,245 total votes were the most of any loser – topping the next highest losing total (Junkyard, with a respectable 5,899) by 346 votes. Was that indication of excitement for Barrel Theory or a lackluster opinion of Indeed? We shall see ahead.
- The most surprising blowout was Fulton over Lift Bridge. With just one seed line's difference between them, the former grabbed 2,330 more votes than the latter.
- Also surprising: the low totals of both Bauhaus (with 3,899 votes, the lowest) and Insight (3,907).
- Dangerous Man is looking unexpectedly strong as a 6-seed. Not only did the northeast Minneapolis Co. garner the most votes, it faced a better seeded opponent (Insight, 11) than 2-seed Bent Paddle (Bauhaus, 14) did. And even so, it earned only a hair worse percentage of total matchup votes than Bent Paddle did.
**Unrelated epiphany, garnered in hindsight: What was going on with Danger Danger's obsession with repeating words?? Two of their singles were Bang Bang and Naughty Naughty. And then there's the name?? It's a little much much.
