Ale list: pFriem pilsner rises in Northwest ‘Tournament of Beers’

In the Oregon Tournament of Beers (ToB) bracket, the pilsner from top-seeded pFriem Family Brewing eliminated the 16th-seeded Schwenk pilsner from Bend’s Riverbend Brewery, and moves on to face Pelican Five Fin, seeded eighth, which topped ninth-seed 10 Barrel Out of Office. (Whew — what a numbers game.) In other Oregon ToB pairings, Terminal Gravity TG of Enterprise rose from 11th seed to  edge out six-seeded Full Sail’s pilsner, and Ferment Brewing’s 15th-ranked 12-degree pilsner had to step aside as Crux Pils (seeded at number two) moved on.

Same with 13-seeded Freebridge Pulpit Rock pils, eliminated by Gloria from Block 15 (Corvallis) in the fourth seed.

The Washington ToB bracket pitted two Gorge beers against Evergreen state brother brews: Grains of Wrath (Camas), seeded at sixth, saw its lager lose to 11th seeded Wander Doglost (Bellingham), and Backwoods of Carson’s GP pilsner, seeded number 3, lost to Farminghouse Cold Beer, at 14, from Mt. Vernon.

Deschutes DaShootz (fifth), Buoy Czech Pils (third) and Sunriver Meowt (10th) since edged Block 15, Terminal Gravity and Crux, respectively, and in Washington, Farmstrong eliminated Wander.

Check out the bracket at peaksandpints/tournament-of-beer.com.

In addition to the Oregon and Washington State brackets are the Seattle/Greater King County and Portland/Greater Multnomah County brackets.

ToB or not to be ...

Peaks and Pint’s co-owner Don Swander provides some lively commentary on the beers as each elimination round occurs, and he framed ToB this way:

“We love brackets. Think about it: A beer tournament seeded by the public, nominated pilsners unavailable in the South Sound, fleeting love affairs with breweries you might forget by May. And if you’re lucky enough to have your favorite pilsner nominated, well, that’s three weeks of anxiety you’ll never get back. The bracket in all its simplicity and linear beauty brings some sanity and order to our attempt to champion craft beer. If we can entice someone to drive to eastern Oregon to try Terminal Gravity Brewing’s TG Pilsner, not only is that cool, but also strengthens the industry.”

The brackets stretch the geography a bit, as Heater-Allen and its Pils is in Yamhill County, , and all but a few of the remaining 15 breweries in the bracket are based in Portland, not the county. Also, Bellingham and Mt. Vernon beers — Whatcom and Skagit counties, respectively — were placed in both the Greater Seattle/King County and Washington groups.

However, in his updates, he mistakenly wrote that Full Sail’s pilsner is no longer made. Full Sail’s marketing director, Sandra Evans, stated the beer is “in limited quantities, packaging it in bottles.”

But I can vouch for Peaks and Pints as a beer haven: In February, I had a well-made lunch and sampled from its well-collated 28-tap selection. Between the quality of its food and beer, and the amazing collection of Northwest logging and forest culture memorabilia, it’s worth a visit, not from University of Puget Sound.

Peaks and Pints’ current list features three Gorge brews: Cool Camp IPA and Viola (barrel-aged Flanders red) from Double Mountain, and a Witbier-Kriek blend Orchard Road, from Logsdon Farmhouse.