In what might prove to be the nerd event horizon, the moment we went too far and escape became impossible, it's time to bring fantasy sports to beer.
Fantasy. Beer. On-line. League.
Wondrously obvious to those of us that have been barelling toward this moment for much of our lives without knowing it. Splendidly easy to play.
Tiered Pick'em.
Pick breweries per tier as instructed below. You get credit for new beers (and only new beers) that your brewery produces between February first and June 31st. The scoring categories for competition are: Number of different styles, Average Style+, and Cumulative BAR. Scoring beers are beers that are eligible for BeerGraphs' Rookie of the Year: New labels, not vintages. Enjoy By is not eligible, Bourbon County Stout is not eligible, but Bourbon County Brand Stout Barleywine in 2013 -- a new beer -- would have been eligible. Write-in Free Agent slot deadline -- a small brewery not listed here -- is April first. Signups close February first.
| Fantasy Beer League Brewery Pick'em | ||
| Tier One (cumulative BAR) (pick one) | -------------------------------- | |
| Stone (618) | Dogfish Head (352) | Avery (273) |
| The Bruery (480) | Mikkeller (344) | Lost Abbey (239) |
| Founders (390) | Russian River (342) | |
| Cigar City (381) | Hill Farmstead (332) | |
| Goose Island (379) | Three Floyds (325) | |
| Cantillon (365) | Firestone Walker (323) | |
| Tier Two (pick one) | -------------------------------- | |
| Sierra Nevada (206) | Crooked Stave (162) | Surly (150) |
| Bell's (202) | BrewDog (162) | Oskar Blues (147) |
| The Kernel (188) | Short's (161) | Allagash (143) |
| Tired Hands (187) | Deschutes 160) | AleSmith (139) |
| Lagunitas (171) | Fat Head's (159) | Fonteinen (135) |
| New Glarus (168) | Southern Tier (158) | Saint Arnold (133) |
| Cascade (167) | Revolution Brewing (158) | De Struise (129) |
| Boulevard (162) | Troegs (152) | Pipeworks (128) |
| Tier Three (Pick two) | -------------------------------- | |
| Wicked Weed (125) | Jack's Abby (101) | Ommegang (81) |
| Alpine (122) | Epic (99) | Garage (80) |
| Schlafly (121) | Hair of the Dog (97) | North Coast (79) |
| Great Lakes (119) | Victory (95) | Rogue (78) |
| Pizza Port (118) | Central Waters (94) | Greenbush (77) |
| Ballast Point (117) | Carton (94) | Port Brewing (77) |
| Half Acre (117) | Terrapin (93) | Lawson's Finest Liquids (77) |
| Evil Twin (117) | Brooklyn (90) | Jester King (74) |
| New England (115) | Toppling Goliath (90) | Elysian (73) |
| Odell (111) | FiftyFifty (86) | Block 15 (73) |
| New Belgium (107) | Great Divide (86) | Solemn Oath (72) |
| Dark Horse (105) | HopDog (85) | Real Ale (72) |
| Westbrook (104) | Green Flash (84) | Beachwood (72) |
| Karbach (102) | Drake's (84) | Voodoo (72) |
| Sante Adairius (101) | Perennial (84) | Prairie Artisan (70) |
| Hoppin Frog (101) | Funky Buddha (81) | |
| Tier Four (pick two) | -------------------------------- | |
| Foothills (69) | NoDa (56) | Feral (49) |
| Magic Rock (68) | Driftwood (55) | Columbus (49) |
| Sun King (66) | Lakewood (55) | Alaskan (49) |
| Fremont (66) | Kane (54) | Parallel 49 (49) |
| Burnt Hickory (65) | Noble Ale Works (55) | August Schell (48) |
| Bear Republic (66) | Austin Beerworks (54) | Sam Smith (48) |
| Hangar 24 (65) | Epic (53) | Swamp Head (48) |
| Four Peaks (65) | Thirsty Dog (53) | Mountain Goat (47) |
| Harviestoun (64) | Sixpoint (53) | Innis and Gunn (47) |
| Perrin (64) | Bridge Road (53) | Dark Star (47) |
| Two Brothers (62) | Chimay (52) | Flying Dog (47) |
| Societe (61) | Upland (51) | Sweetwater (47) |
| New Holland (60) | Weyerbacher (51) | Trillium (47) |
| Unibroue (58) | Bellwoods (50) | The Livery (45) |
| Upright (58) | HaandBryggeriet (50) | Yeastie Boys (45) |
| Thornbridge (57) | Olde Hickory Brewing (50) | Jolly Pumpkin (45) |
| Boneyard (57) | Black Raven (50) | Knee Deep (45) |
| 8 Wired (57) | Kern River (50) | Pizza Boy (44) |
| Left Hand (56) | Brouwerj Het Anker (50) | Brouwerj Rodenbach (43) |
| Great Lakes (56) | Ninkasi (50) |
Odd Side (43) |
| Liberty (56) | DuClaw (49) | Heavy Seas (43) |
| Free Agent Utility Spot | ||
| Any brewery with <45 BAR total. |
So. Like the rules? We could do a simple signup and online form setup over the next week or so, we can move the tiers around a little if you'd like, update the numbers, change the scoring categories...
But I think this is the format. What do you think?
Thanks to wiki commons user Bill_Buckels for the header image.