Austin content creators and community advocates Holden A Beer and Austin Ale Trail have teamed up to bring the third annual summer ATX Brewery Bracket. The event is naturally inspired by March Madness, and is a fun way to celebrate the brewing community in Austin – no sponsorships, no paid marketing, just a community-led competition to highlight all the breweries in town and decide the best of the best.
The event has grown massively in just a few years. In 2023 we saw the award go to Texas Beer Co. with about a hundred votes per matchup, and by year two, the counts were up to 300 with the prize going to Obsidian Brewing. With the help of the Austin Ale Trail team this year, outreach has expanded even further, and it’s paid off – polls this year have been hitting 500, and with several rounds still to go before the finals, they’re expecting this to double or even triple last year’s total.
This year’s bracket featured 56 breweries with seedings randomly selected to ensure fairness, and voting occurs on @holdenabeer’s Instagram story. Next year’s plan is to increase this to 64 breweries, and possibly move voting to a more robust system to more easily allow the community to both vote and track results.
Holden Easterling, the man behind the Instagram account, provided his thoughts on the history of the tournament:
“I started this March-Madness style bracket in June of 2023. Got the idea from watching college basketball during the 2023 tournament and thought it would be really unique and cool to do something similar with the brewing community. I’ve always been into the craft beer scene in Austin and have worked in the industry for several years and gotten to know it and its people pretty well.
I already had the Holden A Beer page and I thought a bracket style tournament would be a great way to give some visibility to the industry here in Austin and give the breweries something fun to compete against each other with in promotion of their brands. The goal was to get the community together in a fun and competitive way. Still the reason why I do it 3 years in a row and will continue to every summer.”
To follow along, check out the Instagram account’s stories every Sunday for polls and Tuesday for results. At time of publish, the preliminary rounds have been decided and the quarterfinals will be held on June 15th, with the semis and finals coming in the following weeks. Just like in previous years, the winning brewery will receive a trophy and party held by Holden and Ale Trail.
Quarterfinal Matchups:
- In the Northwest bracket, Obsidian defeated Frontyard, and will face Red Horn who defeated Lago Vista.
- In the Northeast bracket, Zilker defeated Lazarus, and will face Austin Beerworks who defeated Batch.
- In the Southwest bracket, Fast Friends defeated ABGB (by one vote), and will face Jester King who defeated Vista.
- In the Southeast bracket, Meanwhile defeated Pinthouse (wow!), and will face St. Elmo who defeated Live Oak.
Good luck, and may the best brewery win!
Originally posted on Craft Beer Austin
By Caleb Hoffman
