Well, folks, we're at the finish line.
Er, sorry, wrong analogy – we've reached the championship round of our Ultimate Minnesota Beer Bracket. On Monday, someone is going to cut down the figurative nets. We'll get to that in a minute.
But first! It's been a heck of a journey to arrive at this final matchup, which we never could have expected in our wildest dreams.
Your ultimate contenders? Schell's, our 9-seed, and Castle Danger, our 6-seed.
Schell's, our shining Cinderella, has had one of the toughest paths of any brewery, holding the role of underdog in each matchup and subsequently dispensing each powerhouse.
After brushing past Steel Toe Brewing in the opening round, Schell's was responsible for taking down Surly – the No. 1 seed – and now Bent Paddle, our No. 2 seed, which looked almost as strong as the Twin Cities giant. The old-school brew house has only appeared stronger in each round – beating Bent Paddle by more than 13 percentage points.
How did we get here? Well, clearly Schell's has done an impressive job of mobilizing its base of passionate drinkers, for one. The brewery has just over 32,000 page likes on Facebook, compared with about 85,000 for Surly, yet the brewery's posts touting the contest and an overflow of Facebook fan response shows that those who love Schell's are very engaged.
Now from a seed perspective, Schell's will be the 'dog once more, when it faces Castle Danger for all the sudsy, ale-ite and foamy glory.