Third Space Brewing's IPA Fest

On Saturday, August 4th, Third Space Brewing hosted its 2nd annual Wisconsin IPA Fest in celebration of National IPA day, held the first Thursday in August. Third Space Brewing’s co-founders, Andy Gehl and Kevin Wright have a passion for IPA’s, which isn’t known to be a typical Wisconsin-style beer. To celebrate, they invited every brewery in Wisconsin to enter an IPA to be judged for best in the state. Each brewery could only enter one of their IPA’s, and it had to be between 5%-7.9% ABV, to adhere to the integrity of classic IPA guidelines. The beers were judged through a double-blind method, where neither the servers nor the judges knew which beer they were tasting. After tasting 48 beers, the judges made their decisions. They first narrowed it down to six semifinalists, and from there the top three were chosen. There was also a people’s choice, chosen by those attending the IPA fest.

Semi-finalist breweries

Central Waters Brewing Co.

City Lights Brewing Co.

Hinterland Brewery

Rock County Brewing Co

The Fermentorium

Third Space Brewing Co.

Winners

1st place: Third Space Brewing Co. Upwards Spiral IPA

2nd place: Central Waters Brewing Co. Unsettled IPA

3rd place: The Fermentorium Juice Packets IPA 

(People's Choice) Eagle Park Brewing Co. Demon Haze IPA 

Want to attend? Good news for you, Third Space is already planning their next IPA fest, which will fall on August 3rd, 2019. In the meantime, try more local IPAs! They are definitely a labor of love, and will transform you into an IPA master just in time for next year’s festival.