Brooklyn wins NY beer 'tournament'

April 13, 2007: Brooklyn Brewery has triumphed in a curious beer contest staged by the Washington Post.

The paper set up a blind tasting of 32 beers, but instead of judging them all against it each other it let pairs of beers fight it out in a tournament situation.

So each of the beers was judged against one other in the first round and the winner went through to the final 16. The process was repeated until two reached the 'final', where Brooklyn Lager saw off Saranac Pale Ale.

Joe Heim, of the Washington Post, commented: "From the outset of the randomly seeded tournament, Brooklyn Lager performed admirably, dispatching Coors, Samuel Adams, Rolling Rock, and Ellie's Brown Ale, before clinching the title with the votes of four of the five panelists in a showdown with Saranac Pale Ale."