Who makes the best beer in North Carolina? We’ll soon find out! Beginning this week, sixty-four North Carolina breweries will compete for the title of Best Brewery in North Carolina.
The North Carolina Beer Bracket, modeled after the NCAA basketball tournament, is hosted by Strange Carolinas and will continue until a champion is crowned on March 29th.
What makes the North Carolina Beer Bracket unique is that all sixty-four breweries were nominated by fans of the establishments and the ultimate winner will be chosen by the people. Each of the tournament’s six rounds will last for thirty-six hours, during which voters will choose the best brewery from each of that round’s match-ups. “In 2017, our readers chose the best burger and taco in the state,” says editor Chris Hocker. “Beer seemed like a logical partner to both.”
The cities with the most breweries in the North Carolina Beer Bracket are Charlotte with eight, Asheville with seven, Raleigh and Wilmington with six each, and Greensboro with five. The four #1 seeds in the tournament include overall #1 seed Highland Brewing Co. of Asheville, Appalachian Mountain Brewery of Boone, Burial Beer Co. of Asheville, and Wooden Robot Brewery of Charlotte.
The North Carolina Beer Bracket, the complete list of participants, and more information can be found at http://www.strangecarolinas.com
In March 2017, Strange Carolinas ran a similar tournament to find the Best Burger in North Carolina. After three weeks of match-ups, Lenoir’s Carolina Burger bested Mount Airy’s The Loaded Goat to claim the title of Best Burger in North Carolina. In September 2017, Strange Carolinas conducted the three-week North Carolina Taco Tournament. Nearly 77,000 votes were cast in the tournament that saw Hampstead’s Burrito Shak earn the title of Best Taco in North Carolina.