Reviewed by: Liv George
Who brews the best beer in Alabama? You get to decide in our first Bama Beer Bracket
Monkeynaut or Take the Causeway? Paradise Now or Kaleidoscope? Naked Pig or Neon Moon?
You may find yourself making these tough decisions at breweries, craft houses and grocery stores around the state. There are plenty of great beers made here in Alabama and while we want to celebrate them all, it’s time we pick one to take on the title of Best Beer in Alabama.
In our first Bama Beer Bracket, we have made the difficult decisions to put together a field of 32 beers representing 22 different breweries from areas all over the state. (Maybe this gets expanded to 64 next year 👀) Here’s how the tournament works:
- 4 regions with 8 beers each
- Single-elimination rounds
- Voting on The Bama Buzz Instagram Stories
- Round 1: Thursday, March 28 @ 12 PM
The bracket
We will have voting happening all the way through next with a champion crowned on the same day the NCAA Men’s Tournament wraps up on April 8.
Some breweries have multiple beers that made the tournament:
- Fairhope (3)
- Good People in Birmingham (2)
- Straight to Ale in Huntsville (2)
- Goat Island in Cullman (2)
- Yellowhammer in Huntsville (2)
- Druid City in Tuscaloosa (2)
- Common Bond in Montgomery (2)
- Back Forty in Gadsden (2)
- Braided River in Mobile (2)
We did our best to seed the field but I’m not sure there’s any easy first round matchups or any true favorites to make their way through the tournament. Selections were made based off popularity, availability, and online reviews.
That being said, here are the beers that took the top seed in each region and to little surprise, it’s IPAs leading the way.
- Region 1: Good People Snake Handler Double IPA
- Region 2: Fairhope Take the Causeway IPA
- Region 3: Straight to Ale Monkeynaut IPA
- Region 4: Back Forty Naked Pig Pale Ale
Once we reach the Elite 8, we will release a new bracket with those eight beers Monday. That bracket will be the regions listed 1-4, top to bottom, meaning the Final Four matchups would be the Region 1 winner vs. the Region 2 winner and the Region 3 winner vs. the Region 4 winner.
We want to hear from you!
This bracket is all about finding the state’s favorite beer. And while we may have narrowed down the list, we need all of you to help pick out a champion.
So first thing’s first: Follow us on Instagram! This is where we will be putting all of our polls for each individual matchup in the bracket. Those polls stay up for 24 hours on our IG stories. Here is the tentative schedule for when each round’s voting will begin:
- First round: Thursday, March 28 (underway now!)
- Sweet 16: Friday, March 29
- Elite 8: Monday, April 1
- Final 4: Wednesday, April 3
- Championship: Friday, April 5
The state has plenty of great beer to enjoy and this bracket may make you want to try some of the state’s top beers you’ve never had. But as always, it’s a good reminder to drink responsibly and never drink and drive!
We will be doing round by round updates so make sure to stay on top of our Instagram page through the tournament! And follow us on X, Facebook + LinkedIn while you’re at it!
