Best of the West Coast IPA: National Throwdown

Oregon Brewers Guild Announces New Beer Competition

The Oregon Brewers Guild is excited to announce the launch of their first beer competition – the Best of the West Coast IPA: National Throwdown.

“The Guild is thrilled to announce this new event,” stated Ben Edmunds, OBG Board President. “We’ve long thought that a competition would be a fun event for the OBG to host, and there’s no better way to make that happen than by celebrating excellence within the most popular craft style in the US.”

The goal of the competition is simple: identify and celebrate the best West Coast IPAs being made in the country today by a wide range of breweries and brewers. Unlike other competitions, this event focuses on one style of beer only: West Coast IPA. Pale Ales, session IPAs, double and triple IPAs, black IPAs, and others are all wonderful styles, but this competition is not for those beers. Instead, the Guild has decided to focus solely on West Coast IPA between 6 and 8% ABV.

“This is a distinct competition in that it is dedicated to one-style of beer. We thought we would have some fun with the style subcategories and awards with this new event, while also bringing to bear all of the expertise and knowledge that we’ve gained from other competitions,” shared Edmunds.

The Oregon Brewers Guild has had great success with hosting their annual Zwickelmania open-house event, Portland Fresh Hops Festival, Central Oregon Winter Beer Festival, as well as an annual collaboration beer project.

“Although we’ve seen in-person events come back over the past year, we are dealing with much higher costs to run them and uncertain attendance rates,” shared Christina LaRue, Executive Director of the Guild. “We’ve been brainstorming alternative event ideas and delving into the world of beer competitions just made sense.”

Registration for the competition is open through July 7th and is open to breweries from all 50 states. All beers entered must be produced on a fully licensed, commercial brewery with a TTB Brewer’s Notice on file. Breweries-in-planning and homebrewers are not eligible. All proceeds from the competition will go to supporting the Guild.

More information about the competition, as well as registration can be found on the Guild’s website: https://www.oregoncraftbeer.org/bowabout