News, nuggets and longreads 15 August 2026: Saturday Night and Sunday Morning

Every Saturday we round up the best writing about beer from the past week. This time, we’ve got shipwrecks, dive bars and Japan. First, by way of news, there’s a glimmer of hope in the latest stats from SIBA on UK brewery numbers: The rate of brewery closures has slowed in the first half of 2026 compared to 2025 according to the SIBA UK Brewery Tracker, published today… For the first six months of 2026, net closures have averaged less than one brewery a week compared to nearly three [per] week in 2025… Taking into account all brewery openings and closures in the UK the net brewery closure rate from January to June 2026 was -16, compared to a total loss of -137 breweries in 2025. So, what’s changed? Or, to put it another way, what made 2025 so much more challenging than 2026? Alton George Jr. at Club 2101. SOURCE: Sarahbeth Maney/The Oaklandside For The Oaklandside Azucena Rasilla spent a full day hanging out at a bar in Oakland, California, recording the comings, the goings and the…