to give with Tied House’s Ironwood Dark going head-to-head with Magnolia’s Proving Ground IPA, under the eccentric yet always entertaining environs of the Hotel Utah in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood. On the line? A trip to the Elite Eight and another step closer to the title of Most Wired Beer.

The Location: The Hotel Utah, 500 4th St., San Francisco

The Beers: Tied House’s Ironwood Dark (Mountain View, Califorinia) and Magnolia’s Proving Ground IPA (San Francisco)

The Method of Dispense: Half-pint glasses of each

How They Fared: The rich hoppiness of Proving Ground IPA (7.2 percent ABV) definitely had patrons buzzing. “On any other day, the lure of darkness compounded by iron would be pure doom,” said a local SF sculptor. “But today, I was feeling the hops.” Wired IT whiz Chris Becker admit that while he “doesn’t normally enjoy IPAs,” Proving Ground impressed him with a “good depth and bold taste.” Ad man Reggie preferred it for its “bolder taste and sweet beginning.”

However, the Ironwood Dark had more than a few fans of its own. “Both beers were delicious, but Northern California IPAs are still too hoppy for me,” said one voter, who trumpeted the Ironwood’s chocolate notes as the deciding factor. Wired’s Katie Davies does enjoy a fine IPA every now and then, but fell for the Ironwood’s “exceptionally smooth” taste.

Indeed, the voters preferred the Ironwood Dark by a healthy eight-vote margin, and so Tied House and its Ironwood Dark moves along to the Elite Eight in our ever-continuing October Madness beer tournament.

Coming up: The next October Madness event will be Wednesday, November 10 at Shotwell’s, where Mad River’s Steelhead Extra Pale Ale will compete against Ninkasi’s Believer Double Red Ale.

File photo: Dave Mosher/Wired.com

Stay tuned to @wiredplaybook and @beerrobot for updates on attending future October Madness events in the Bay Area. Follow us on Twitter at @erikmal and @wiredplaybook and on Facebook.

Authors: Erik Malinowski

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