Cheers to the Land 2026, the Oregon Agricultural Trust’s annual campaign pairing Oregon beer and cider with farmland protection, is underway: 16 breweries and cideries made beverages with Oregon-grown ingredients this year, and the fifth edition kicked off Saturday, Oct. 10, in Portland. Tapping events continue in Corvallis, Lincoln City and Eugene through Oct. 17, per the campaign’s events page.
Every pint, the Bureau has learned, begins as dirt. Oregon’s brewers have decided the dirt deserves a defense fund.
Why Cheers to the Land exists
The Oregon Agricultural Trust (OAT) is a statewide nonprofit land trust, and the Cheers to the Land site notes that more than 99% of U.S. hop acreage sits in the Pacific Northwest. According to the campaign press release published by New School Beer, Oregon lost 4% of its agricultural land to development and fragmentation between 2017 and 2022. Raising awareness of that loss, and of OAT’s work to stop it, is the point of Cheers to the Land 2026, per the release. OAT says it has permanently protected more than 33,700 acres of farm and ranch land and has 49 active projects in the pipeline that would protect roughly 140,000 more.
Great Oregon beer and cider starts long before it reaches the tap. It starts in the soil, on the farm, with the farmers who grow the ingredients that make this state’s craft beverage industry what it is.
Nellie McAdams, executive director, Oregon Agricultural Trust
New for Cheers to the Land 2026 is a Farmland Protection badge on participating makers’ own packaging. Per the release, it signals that a beverage prominently features Oregon-grown ingredients and that its maker backs OAT’s mission. This year Hopworks, Xicha and Little Hop, Gigantic, Bauman’s Cider and Falling Sky carry it on their Cheers releases.
Cheers to the Land 2026 events
- Portland kickoff (Sat., Oct. 10, 3-6 p.m.): John’s Marketplace, 3560 SE Powell Blvd., hosted a beer fest pouring 15 of the releases. Tickets were $25 with a commemorative glass and eight sampling tickets; the pop-up farmers market alongside it was free.
- Ranch Pizza (from Sun., Oct. 11): a Cheers to the Land pizza at the SE 11th location, with braised beef and Oregon-grown mushrooms; a portion of proceeds goes to OAT.
- Corvallis (Sun., Oct. 11, 6 p.m.): Cheers to the Land 2026 beers on tap at Common Fields, 545 SW 3rd St.
- Lincoln City (Fri., Oct. 16, 4-9 p.m.): tap takeover and trivia at Rusty Truck Brewing.
- Eugene (Sat., Oct. 17, 2-6 p.m.): a mini beer fest with live music at Claim 52 Brewing; tickets are $20.
The release says bottle shops and grocery stores across Oregon would carry the beverages starting Oct. 10, with the full lineup at all John’s Marketplace locations.
The 16 beers and ciders
The Cheers to the Land 2026 lineup, with descriptions condensed from the campaign release:
- Baerlic Brewing: IPA brewed to pair with the Ranch Pizza special
- Bauman’s Cider: off-dry blackberry plum cider
- Breakside Brewery: pale ale with two culinary lavenders and Citra
- Claim 52 Brewing: fresh hop hazy IPA
- Deschutes Brewery: fresh hop West Coast IPA
- Falling Sky Brewing: Cascadian dark ale with Oregon Coast spruce tips
- Ferment Brewing: West Coast IPA with Strata and El Dorado
- Freebridge Brewing: West Coast IPA with Salmon-Safe Amarillo
- Gigantic Brewing: bitter ale
- Hopworks Brewery: honey porter
- Old Standby Brewing and Silver Falls Brewing: West Coast IPA
- Rusty Truck Brewing: raspberry elderflower wheat ale
- The Wheel Brewery: IPA with the new Oregon barley variety Lontra
- Threshold Brewing: style not yet announced
- Wolves & People Farmhouse Brewery: sweet hazelnut stout
- Xicha Brewing and Little Hop Brewing: cucumber lime Mexican lager
At least three of them, from Claim 52, Deschutes and Old Standby with Silver Falls, use Willamette Promise malt from sponsor Admiral Maltings, which has since announced it is closing.
Humans protecting the fields that grow their beer, using beer. From up here, Cheers to the Land 2026 looks like a closed loop, and a well-designed one.
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