And the Beer Championship Series winnner is…
After 12 days of competition, 64 beers and nearly 10,000 votes from more than a dozen countries, we have a winner in the second annual Beer Championship Series. Congratulations go out to Marshall McNellie’s Pub Ale, which claimed the title in a landslide over New Belgium’s Fat Tire. McNellie’s Pub Ale won Tuesday’s final match-up by garnering 89 percent of the vote.
Take a look at the final bracket.
As the chairman, president, CEO, COO, vice president and janitor of the BCS, I offer congratulations to Marshall for its win. And I congratulate beer fans here in Oklahoma and around the country and world who took part in the contest. This little Beer Championship Series certainly has come a long way since last year, when the entire competition resulted in a whopping total of about 300 or 400 votes. Hopefully this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship between The Thirsty Beagle blog and beer fans everywhere. But enough about me, let’s talk more about our winning beer. I gave the news of the win to Marshall brewmaster Eric Marshall, and this is what he had to say:
“We are very excited and incredibly honored to have our McNellie’s Pub Ale voted Oklahoma’s favorite beer! This is tremendous validation in our vision at Marshall Brewing Company. Bringing local craft beer to Oklahoma is our passion and the support we have been shown is truly overwhelming. We would like to thank everyone who voted for us, especially loyal local beer drinkers. We would also like to thank our fellow Oklahoma brewing brethren for all their efforts in helping the Oklahoma brewing scene grow and prosper. Cheers and thanks for supporting your local breweries!”
Well said, Eric. I’m certain Marshall McNellie’s Pub Ale will be back next year to try and defend its title. And speaking of next year, I do plan to bring the BCS back for the third annual version. But like Mike Gundy once said, we may have an interesting twist at the quarterback position. If I mentioned the phrases “beer conferences” and “beer regular season,” would that pique your interest?
Stay tuned. Cheers!
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Comments
I’ll never understand the popularity of Fat Tire, especially with the same style available from other brewerys, which in my book have always scored higher than Fat Tire! One in particular would be North Coast Red Seal, a fantastic American Amber Ale, which is available in OK.
I’m happy for Marshall Brewing, but find it interesting that New Belgium was even in the competition for Oklahoma’s favorite beer. It’s not sold in the state, meaning there are a lot of people who don’t know what it is not to mention the quality of the sample would be suspect since it would have to travel across state lines to be tasted. Congrats though and it shows that the Marshall brewing company has definitely increased awareness and consistency.