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Most anyone in the New Mexico beer industry will echo the same sentiment: the quality and variety of IPAs in the state are only getting better on a yearly basis.

Nowhere is that more evident than during the IPA Challenge, a highly anticipated and competitive event held by the New Mexico Brewers Guild since 2002. To emerge as the champion, a beer must make it through four weeks of blind tasting and scoring: a brewer鈥檚 elimination round followed by three rounds open to the public held at breweries throughout the state. In addition to bragging rights as the state鈥檚 best IPA, the winner receives a trophy that NMBG Executive Director Ebbie Edmonston likens to the NHL鈥檚 Stanley Cup.

鈥淭his event is just massive,鈥� Edmonston said. 鈥淎nd sometimes I don鈥檛 think people understand how much work goes into it behind the scenes. It鈥檚 four weekends in a row for us, and it starts well before that when we just announced the date to the brewers.

鈥淲e have to get them to sign up, make sure that they鈥檙e brewing a beer. The elimination round is a lot of just double-checking and triple-checking your work, making sure that none of the brewers are sampling their own beers on their flights. Everything鈥檚 completely double-blind 鈥� even more so than what it is for the public. There鈥檚 codes that the beers go out in, and then we change that code again. I鈥檓 the only one that knows them all. So it鈥檚 stressful.鈥�

That aforementioned elimination round began with 28 breweries on July 11 at Boxing Bear Brewing Co. on Candelaria Road and Tramway Boulevard NE. The first two public rounds were held at Second Street Brewery in Santa Fe on July 18 and at Icebox Brewing Co. in Las Cruces on July 25. The final round occurs over three 2-hour sessions at Boxing Bear Firestone on Saturday, Aug. 1, and participants can only rely on taste buds 鈥� not brewery preference 鈥� when choosing their favorite IPA.

Boxing Bear will get to defend its crown on home soil after narrowly edging Downshift Brewing in Ruidoso last year in the final tally with its Juice Boxer IPA.

鈥淭he overall feeling when your name is called as No. 1, it鈥檚 just complete excitement,鈥� Eddie Dominguez, Boxing Bear head brewer, said. 鈥淎nd last year was kind of surprising, because I think we took it by one point overall. And we just barely beat out Downshift. And Downshift is making amazing beer.

鈥淪o it鈥檚 really validating, knowing that the general public picked you and chose your beer. It鈥檚 an honor.鈥�

Those who purchase a ticket receive a commemorative pint glass, 16 IPA samples and a full pint of their choice. The logo for this year鈥檚 IPA Challenge, which appears on the commemorative glass, was designed by Boxing Bear (the previous year鈥檚 winner always gets to play the role of designer). Edmonston says the final session, which begins at 4 p.m., tends to sell out the quickest, so it鈥檚 best to plan ahead.

The beers entered in the competition might be brand new, or they might be a familiar favorite.

鈥淚t鈥檚 really cool just to see like what people come up with. Sometimes they鈥檒l put like a new beer together just for the competition,鈥� Edmonston said. 鈥淎nd other times they鈥檒l just put it in the house IPA, which I think that speaks really highly as well if you can have one of your core beers win an event like this rather than doing a one-off.鈥�

Selecting the beer to enter is as much about predicting what might capture the public鈥檚 fancy as it is a brewer鈥檚 personal preference. However, all bets are off once blind tasting commences.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not like you can just look at this beer and be like, 鈥極h, yeah, I鈥檝e had this at Boxing Bear before,鈥欌�� Dominguez said. 鈥淭he people are really just picking their favorite beer out of a flight.鈥�

Adding to the overall drama of the proceedings is the fact that last year鈥檚 champion will be hosting the championship round. Normally, the previous winner hosts the elimination round, but for this iteration Boxing Bear also volunteered to be the site of the finals.

鈥淚f we have to give the trophy away, it鈥檇 kind of be cool to see one of us hand the trophy over to the next winner at our location,鈥� Dominguez said.