The last of the regional finals are upon us in our brewery patio bracket-style tournament. We finish as we did in the first two rounds with the breweries of Albuquerque, divided into four regions by the two interstate highways.

It was a second round that was both predictable and not, depending on the region. The top two in the Northeast and Southeast from the first round stayed put in those spots in the second, but the Northwest saw its second-place patio change. Then there was the Southwest, where the biggest brewery in town went from leading the first round to coming in fourth. Yeah, we were quite surprised at that one.

Here were the final second-round standings, with the top two finishers in each bracket advancing to the regional finals.

Northwest: 1. Steel Bender 218 votes, 2. Red Door 161, 3. Boxing Bear 128, 4. Lava Rock 122

Northeast: 1. Canteen 196, 2. La Cumbre 129, 3. Palmer 112, 4. Marble Heights 86

Southeast: 1. Differential 203, 2. Quarter Celtic 176, 3. Bombs Away 100, 4. Gravity Bound 73

Southwest: 1. Sidetrack 170, 2. Bow & Arrow 124, 3. Dialogue 116, 4. Marble 108

Once again, it is up to all of you as to what makes a patio great. There are no wrong answers, as this tournament is just for fun. The photos below are a mix of images from the Crew archives and courtesy of the breweries themselves.

ABQ Northwest Regional Final

Steel Bender has held a fairly commanding lead in each of the first two rounds, holding off first Boxing Bear and then Red Door. Can the latter brewery and its expanded patio make a surprise run?

ABQ Northeast Regional Final

Canteen has also cruised to victory in two rounds, making it the prohibitive favorite. After barely holding off Marble Heights by five votes in the first round, La Cumbre was able to take second more easily in the second round. Now it just has to pull off the upset to advance to the championship round.

ABQ Southeast Regional Final

Bigger can be better, as Differential’s spacious outdoor spot has held sway over this region for two rounds. Quarter Celtic, however, closed that gap from 54 votes in the first round to 27 in the second.

ABQ Southwest Regional Final

It was rather surprising to see Marble tumble from first in the first round to fourth in the second, leaving the door wide open for Sidetrack to race out to the top spot. After just edging out Dialogue by eight votes, Bow & Arrow will try to make it back-to-back surprises in this bracket.

Barring any breaking news, the Crew will be taking it easy and doing our best to stay safe this Labor Day weekend. We will resume this tournament with the 12 regional winners finally going head-to-head in our championship round on Tuesday.

Keep supporting local!

— Stoutmeister