Over 11000 votes and we now have a winner for the STL Hops St. Louis Beer Challenge. Ladies and gentlemen, this year’s winner is the Schlafly’s Dry-Hopped APA.

It was a hard-fought final match versus the Buffalo Brewing Rye IPA, with a 66.2% to 33.8% final match-up. Earlier in the week, the Rye IPA took a large lead in the poll, but Schlafly fans came around and fought their way back to make this a very impressive win.

I hope everyone had a lot of fun with this and didn’t take it too seriously. Congrats to all of the contestants and thanks again for giving us some great beer in St. Louis.

Here we are, down to the final two beers. In one corner we have last year’s St. Louis Beer Championship Winner, the Schlafly Dry Hopped APA and in the other corner we have a local favorite who was accidentally left off of last year’s competition, the Buffalo Brewing Rye IPA.

After seeing this year’s results, it would have been interesting to see how the Rye IPA would have fared last year.

Both of these are fantastic beers that I’m more than proud to see in the final two. No matter who loses, we all win with these great beers. The winner will be announced Thursday, April 8th. Get voting!

(If you can’t see the poll below, click on this link to visit the website hosting it.)

So here we are, we’re at the STL Hops St. Louis Beer Challenge Final Four. We have three favorites versus an underdog that has fought it’s way into the final four. This second to final round features O’Fallon’s 5 Day IPA going up against Buffalo’s Rye IPA. The other final match provides last year’s winner the Schlafly’s Dry Hopped APA against the Schlafly Coffee Stout.

Could we see O’Fallon’s 5 Day IPA take on Schlafly’s APA for a battle of the hops? Perhaps the underdog Buffalo will power through another round and make it’s way into the Championship match up? Well, we’ll find out on Monday who will be one match away from the STL Hops St. Louis Beer Challenge Championship. Get voting!

(If you can’t see the poll below, click on this link to visit the website hosting it.)

Round 3 of the STL Hops 2010 St. Louis Beer Challenge proved to have some dominating victories but also had a couple of close match-ups.

Square One may have stayed alive by taking out the Schlafly #15 in round two, but couldn’t get past the juggernaut that is Schlafly Kolsch. O’Fallon’s 5 Day IPA continues its domination and easily dances into Round 4.

We’re now at the Elite 8 and we’re down to just three breweries.  We have Schlafly’s APA facing off against O’Fallon’s newest kid on the block, the Hemp Hop Rye.  We also have Buffalo facing off against itself, in a huge match-up between the Rye IPA and the Buffalo Tail IIPA.  Must be a nice feeling to know at least one of your beers is going to reach the final four.

Time to get voting!

(If you can’t see the poll below, click on this link to visit the website hosting it.)

Wow, we had some close, close battles in Round 2 of the STL Hops 2010 St. Louis Beer Challenge. Let’s take a look at some of the squeakers and look forward to see who’s battling it out in round 3.

Some of the highlights include O’Fallon’s Smoked Porter just barely eking out a victory over Six Row Brewing’s Wee-Heavy in a 51% to 49% match-up. Square One stays alive taking out the Schlafly #15.  And Augusta moves on by winning its battle with Amalgamated Brewing’s Helles.

But now Round 3 has brought us to the Sweet Sixteen and only one brewery didn’t make it into the third round. This is time for the nitty-gritty, and you have some tough choices ahead of you including: Mattingly’s HOPtimal APA vs Schlafly’s APA, Six Row’s Extra Pale Ale vs Buffalo Tail APA and two separate battles of two beers from the same brewery facing off.

Time to get voting!

(If you can’t see the poll below, click on this link to visit the website hosting it.)

Ooops, almost forgot about this today. Round 1 was not unlike the NCAA counterpart, where clear favorites took their victories easily but you’d find a young upstart on occasion that separates itself from the pack.

Some of the highlights include new kid on the block Six Row Brewing’s Kolsch taking down a local mainstay in O’Fallon Wheat!  Buffalo Brewing’s Buffalo Tail IIPA taking down the Schlafly Pilsner in a 67% to 33% battle and Amalgamated Brewing’s Dunkel taking out Highlands Brewing Company’s Oatmeal Stout in a 55% to 45% battle.

But Round 2 has started. Time to get voting! With the exception of Morgan Street and Trailhead, each brewery still has at least a single beer remaining. This should be a much more interesting and difficult.

(If you can’t see the poll below, click on this link to visit the website hosting it.)

Welcome to the STL Hops 2010 St. Louis Beer Challenge! With March Madness starting today, I thought it would be fun to have a contest to see how local beers would do in a tournament. Thanks to an influx of new breweries, we now have a tournament featuring beers from within 50 miles of downtown St. Louis.

Now, a few things. First, don’t make any judgment about the rankings. I just randomized it and then did a bit of sorting so a brewery didn’t face off against itself in the first round. Second, I tried doing my best pulling out 64 beers, but I’m sure I missed a few breweries or beers. Sorry if I missed you, it wasn’t on purpose.

Third, you’ll notice I didn’t include Schlafly AIPA, the reason being is that we’ve yet to try the bottled product and I kind of stuck to Schlafly bottled beers. Fourth, don’t take this too seriously, it’s just for fun.

Round Dates:
Round 1 – Thu Mar 18
Round 2 – Mon Mar 22
Round 3 – Thu Mar 25
Round 4 – Mon Mar 29
Round 5 – Thu Apr 1
Championship – Mon Apr 5

So, good luck to everyone and have fun! (If you can’t see the poll below, click on this link to visit the website hosting it.)