After two straight slaughters in the battle for top spot, we’ve got a real battle for first place in Group C of the 2014 Basketball World Cup of Beer. The rules are simple, every nation in the FIBA World Cup of Basketball gets a beer, most have been nominated by fans or journalists from the nation in question. Today we’ve got 6 beers for the 6 nations in Group C with 4 progressing to the knockout stages.
Let’s meet the contenders in the deepest group to date of the competition…
Dominican Republic – Presidente
Look at that scene, it’s almost perfect. Just get that vile dross out of the shot and I’m there. Presidente, 5 per cent alcohol by volume (ABV), watery, and easy to pound. It has absolutely nothing going for it if you’re not on that beach.
Finland – Sinebrychoff Porter
Annnnnnd it just got interesting. Finland may have made it to Spain via wild card but they have delivered for this contest. It’s 7.2 per cent ABV and a great sensation of chocolate, caramel, and malt. Throw in some coffee and fruit and this is a serious beer.
New Zealand – 8 Wired Superconductor DIPA
Whoa, the Tall Whites with a big entry here. It’s 8.8 per cent ABV, lots of citrus and hops, and touches of tobacco and toffee. Sensational stuff.
Ukraine – Stare Misto
What can I say about this 4.8 per cent ABV lager? It’s definitely a beer. There’s like a little bit of malt. Oh and it goes down easy. I really hope there’s a good beer next…
USA – Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA
This is Group C, this is a bloody battle of beer. This isn’t your run of the mill Sierra Nevada, this is Torpedo IPA and it is a beast. At 7.2 per cent ABV it’s at the far side of a single IPA and yet manages to hold everything together. It brings as much hops as a single IPA can manage, I’m talking about a beer that manages to be the far side of both bitter and refreshing, with grapefruit and orange in the flavour.
Turkey – Efes Malt
It had to be an Efes and the collective consciousness of of Turkish tweeters, the malt won out. There’s not a lot going on in this citrusy 5 per cent ABV beer. A decent touch of bitterness although it is a little rough.
We’ve got to narrow 6 beers down to four, here are the results in order:
1. Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA – USA
2. Sinebrychoff Porter – Finland
3. 8 Wired Superconductor DIPA – New Zealand
4. Efes Malt – Turkey
5. Stare Misto – Ukraine
6. Presidente – Dominican Republic
This was a group of two halves. The top three were insanely close and nobody wants to see them in the knockout stages. If they meet head to head again, I can’t swear I’ll call it the same. There’s at least a week before the first re-match but these are three phenomenal beers. Fourth place went to least bad beer and many readers will be stunned that Efes survived. It was just fortunate enough that despite the depth in this group, the bottom two were too bad to be allowed progress.
We’ll complete the opening stage with Group D tomorrow, which promises to be competitive albeit not on Group C’s level. For those late to the party check out Group A and Group B.
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