Mashing-In News: Oregon MJF Scholars, Canada Craft Beer Struggles
GOOD MORNING, SOUTH PUGET SOUND!
Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026 — Paul Stanley turns 74 today!
Today’s craft beer news moves like a restless ferment — from Oregon brewers earning global wings to monasteries changing hands, tanks going to auction, IPAs questioning their own reflection, saisons philosophizing their lineage, Canada sobering up, and Godzilla inexplicably stomping through a 99-pack.
From Oregon to Munich and Beyond: New MJF Scholars Rise
The Michael James Jackson Foundation’s newest scholarship class spotlights two Oregon brewers, Von Ebert’s Dashawn Agbonze and pFriem’s Alexis Chanes, whose journeys through beer, education, and craft reflect both the expanding diversity and deepening intellectual ambition of American brewing. (Beervana)
A New Chapter in Beer Storytelling, Science, and Scholarship
A new year brings a flurry of beer-world momentum for Jeff Alworth with the launch of a narrative podcast on iconic beers, a free WSET webinar on American brewing culture, a 20-year blogging milestone, and a forthcoming Craft Brewers Conference panel on fresh hops that together underscore how beer storytelling, education, and science continue to deepen and evolve. (Beervana)
Locust Cider’s Gig Harbor Gear Heads to Auction
Following the closure of Locust Cider’s Gig Harbor production facility, a wide array of fermentation tanks and brewing, packaging, and cold-side equipment is heading to auction, marking a sobering but familiar reshuffling of assets in the Pacific Northwest craft beverage scene. (Washington Beer Blog)
The Craft Beer Party Grows Quieter in Canada
After a decade of wild expansion, Canada’s craft beer scene is quietly sobering up, squeezed by rising costs, shrinking beer sales, and shifting consumer habits that favor fewer pints, more variety, and a broader idea of what a brewery must now be to survive. (CBC)
Germany’s Oldest Monastic Brewery Changes Hands
As German beer consumption hits historic lows, the world’s oldest monastic brewery at Weltenburg Abbey is being sold to Schneider Weisse, a symbolic passing of a thousand-year brewing tradition shaped as much by modern market realities as by medieval devotion. (The Guardian)
How IPA Can Get Its Groove Back in 2026
A wide-ranging community conversation sparked by John Holl asks how to make IPA better in 2026, calling for rebellion against Citra-Mosaic-Simcoe sameness, a return to bitterness, lower alcohol, smarter cost-driven recipes, and cautious exploration of new hop products as brewers navigate both flavor fatigue and economic reality. (ericrsannerud.substack)
The Two Lives of Saison: From Farmhand Fuel to Funked-Up Art
Modern mixed-culture “saisons” may share a name and a spiritual tether to 19th-century Wallonian farmhouse beers, but in practice they are their elegant, managed-wild descendants, shaped by science, creativity, and a subculture of brewers chasing complexity rather than mere refreshment. (Craft Beer & Brewing)
PBR Unleashes Godzilla on the 99 Pack
Pabst Blue Ribbon has unleashed a limited-edition Godzilla-themed 99 Pack, wrapping 99 cans in collectible kaiju artwork to turn one of beer’s most absurd formats into a pop-culture spectacle just in time for big-game season. (Brewpublic)
LINK: Peaks & Pints beer and cider cooler inventory
