Your weekly roundup

Catching up with the latest craft beer news from around the Northwest:

• Fresh hop season has officially arrived with Wednesday's taproom release by Seattle's Two Beers, always an early bird in this much-anticipated category. Look for that one to show up soon here in cans and on draft, and for a whole slew of counterparts to follow including several local versions (we hear Perry Street will be doing one as part of its hazy New England IPA series).

• Ninkasi is joining the growing wave of brewers putting their beer in cans. The Eugene brewery announced it will release three yet-undisclosed offerings in 12-ounce cans early next year; according to Brewbound, that means 45 of the nation's largest 50 craft breweries will be canning.

• Missoula's Big Sky has launched GRIZ Montana Lager as an officially licensed beer for the University of Montana (where the brewery was birthed by a pair of business school students). Plans call for regional distribution including Washington and Idaho.

• While no Spokane breweries will be pouring at this fall's Great American Beer Festival for the first time in recent memory, the just-released list does include Pullman's Paradise Creek and Moscow's Rants & Raves.

• Finally, Dick Cantwell, the longtime Seattle brewing fixture who left Elysian in the wake of its sale to Anheuser-Busch two years ago, is back in the beer business: He's joined with Colorado's New Belgium and Belgium's Oud Beersell to purchase a bankrupt San Francisco brewery, Magnolia Brewing Company. They plan to expand on Magnolia's traditional English-centric lineup with new offerings including sours blended with authentic lambics from Oud Beersell.