The Michael James Jackson Foundation for Brewing & Distilling
Funding technical education and career advancement for black, indigenous, and people of color in the brewing and distilling industries.
What We Do
The Michael James Jackson Foundation is a grant-making organization that funds scholarship awards to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color within the brewing and distilling trades. The program is open to candidates at the beginning of their careers, as well as those looking to continue their education. The MJF awards present an opportunity for members and patrons of the brewing and distilling industries to directly fund a more just, equitable, and dynamic future.
The MJF Scholarships
Sir Geoff Palmer Scholarship Award for Brewing
Sir Godfrey “Geoff” Henry Oliver Palmer OBE, Professor Emeritus in the School of Life Sciences at Heriot-Watt University
Sir Godfrey Henry Oliver Palmer, OBE was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1940. He is a Professor Emeritus of Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, the UK’s most prestigious school for brewing and distilling. In 1989, he shattered a long-standing glass ceiling by becoming the first Black professor in Scotland. The American Society of Brewing Chemists (ASBC) honored him in 1998 with the Award of Distinction, widely considered the “Nobel Prize of Brewing”. Sir Geoff Palmer has also been a prolific author and persistent advocate for civil rights in the UK, with his activism spanning decades.
The Sir Geoff Palmer Scholarship Award for Brewing will fund the tuition and course materials for well-recognized practical courses in brewing science and technology. These include the courses offered by the Master Brewers Association of the Americas (MBAA), American Brewers Guild, UC Davis, The Siebel Institute of Technology and others.
The MJF is pleased and honored to have Sir Geoff working directly with us on the design and direction of this important new scholarship.
Nearest Green Scholarship Award for Distilling
George Green, son of Nearest Green, original master distiller for Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey
Nearest Green (1820-1890?) was born into slavery in Tennessee in 1820, and was eventually leased to a preacher, grocer, and distiller named Dan Call. Sometime in the 1850’s, Call hired a young boy named Jack Daniel to take over the distilling work. Call wanted Jack to learn the art of distillation, and entrusted his education to Nearest Green, deeming him the “best whiskey maker that I know of”. Green was emancipated in 1865, and stayed on to work for Dan Call, in part to bring Jack Daniel’s training to completion. As of 2017, Nearest Green was formally recognized as the first “head stiller” (or “master distiller”) of Jack Daniel’s Distillery. Seven straight generations of Green’s descendants have continued to work for the company.
Our Namesake
Michael James Jackson (1942-2007) was the world’s greatest beer and whisky writer. His books have sold more than 3 million copies in 18 languages and helped launch the craft beer movement in the United States and worldwide. His conception of a taxonomy of beer styles serves as the framework for understanding the complexity of modern beer. Largely separate from his “beer family”, Michael had his equally beloved “whisky family” and wrote about the subject with the same erudition, humanity, and passion which he brought to the subject of beer. While not a person of color himself, Michael can only be described as actively and profoundly anti-racist. We are proud to name this foundation after the 20th century's greatest champion of grain-based beverages.
The Foundation Mission & Structure
The core mission of the Michael James Jackson Foundation for Brewing and Distilling is to advance technical education and facilitate career opportunities for people of color within these industries in the US.
The foundation accomplishes these goals in two ways: funding scholarship awards to accredited brewing & distilling technical courses, and personalized mentorship of grantees by industry professionals.
The MJF operates under a typical foundation board structure, with inaugural chair Garrett Oliver appointing the initial board members. The board thereafter will nominate and vote upon new members. Committees under the board assess scholarship applications during regular grant periods and select the grantees.
The founding board chair, Garrett Oliver, shall serve a term of five years as chair and shall not seek or accept another term as chair; this shall be incorporated into the MJF bylaws. The MJF is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization based in New York City. All funds donated to the MJF will be allocated by, and used exclusively for, the work of the MJF.
Press Clippings
“… the Michael Jackson Foundation for Brewing & Distilling … Aims to Create Lasting Change in Beer and Spirits”
“The Beer Industry Looks for Ways to Help Black Brewers”
“Brewmaster … Talks About Diversifying The Brewing Scene”
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: I would love to donate! How do I do that?
A: Awesome! You can donate to our ongoing fundraising campaign here.
Q: Great - I’ve donated! How does my donation make its way to the scholarship awardee?
A: The MJF, through its board committees, awards scholarship grants and makes direct payments to the educational institutions on behalf of the awardees.
Q: Does the MJF scholarships fund overseas studies?
A: Yes. If an awardee is accepted into an accredited overseas brewing or distilling course, their scholarship will be applicable towards the tuition and possibly other expenses. If you are accepted into Heriot-Watt, for example, we intend to be able to support that.
Q: When do you expect to start granting your first scholarships?
A: We’ve already awarded dozens of scholarships, with more coming all the time.
Q: We’d like to contribute in a bigger way and thankfully we have the means to do so. Is there a way we can make a larger donation more directly?
A: Absolutely! We are happy to work with individuals and organizational donors on coordinating larger contributions. Please feel free to contact board chair Garrett Oliver by email for more information. Thanks in advance for your support.
Q: Is my donation tax-deductible?
A: Absolutely - your donation receipt should have all the relevant info.
Q: I saw that the MJF needs people of color working within the brewing and distilling industries to act as mentors to its scholarship awardees. I would like to act as a mentor. How do I sign up?
A: Thanks for your willingness to step up and make a contribution. Your time, expertise, and experience will be invaluable to our awardees. We are working on a “mentor profile” for prospective MJF mentors; in particular, we are looking for BIPOC professionals with at least 3 years of experience in the brewing and/or distilling trades. But our team of mentors is not strictly limited to people of color. If you have a passion for coaching and considerable professional experience, please send your CV along with a short cover letter to the current board chair Garrett Oliver here.
Q: I would like to apply for a scholarship under the MJF. How do I go about it and what are the requirements?
A: If the current application window is open, you can begin the application process immediately. Otherwise, join our email list below, and we’ll update you when the next window opens.
Q: Can I nominate someone in my organization for an MJF grant?
A: Yes, and we encourage you to do so. In general, we encourage businesses and organizations to support their nominees in any way they can (e.g. PTO for in-person trainings and in-house mentorship). The awardee themselves will need to complete the application, but we will certainly take your company’s (or school’s) endorsement into consideration when making our selection from the eligible candidates.
Q: Do you have to be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident to receive a scholarship under the MJF?
A: We would love to be able to stretch the work of the MJF beyond our own borders, and to benefit non-citizen immigrants, but we feel that this would be overly ambitious at the outset of the foundation’s work. For now, only citizens of the United States and its territories and protectorates, and also persons with US Permanent Resident (“Green Card”) status are eligible. The MJF values the enormous contributions of immigrants to our country and our allied industries and encourages their participation in our programs in the future.
Q: I can’t contribute much in the way of a monetary donation, but I think I have some useful skills I’d be willing to donate. Am I able to volunteer to help?
A: Yes! Our main focus right now is on the fundraising campaign. Once we’re in good shape there, we’ll definitely have lots of little projects that could use some TLC. In the meantime, the best (free) help we can use is sharing our campaign on social media.
Apply for an MJF Scholarship
Whether you’re already a BIPOC brewer or distiller looking to learn new skills, or you’re seeking technical education to begin your career in the industry, we can help.
Before applying, please consult the list of approved courses below. We encourage all applicants to have a specific course in mind when they begin the application process.
The Summer ‘24 MJF application window is now closed. Click the link below to sign up for notifications about the next application window, in Winter 2024.
List of Approved Courses
This is a sampling of courses that the MJF’s board thinks are likely to provide solid technical education in the production side of brewing and distilling. This list is not meant to be exhaustive. We’ve reviewed these briefly (and we know some of these courses pretty well), but you’ll want do your own research before applying. If the course you’d like to take does not appear here, then you will have an opportunity to request that course when you apply.
American Brewers Guild
Standard CBA, Standard IBS&E, Working Brewer IBS&E
Appalachian State University Fermentation Sciences
Summer Brewing Short Course
Auburn University Brewing Science Certificate Course
Brewing and Distilling Center
Certificate in Professional Brewing and Distilling Technology
Central Michigan University Fermentation Science
Central New Mexico Community College
Brewing Technology, Certificate of Achievement
Central Washington University Brewing Program
Institute of Brewing and Distilling
Kalamazoo Valley Community College AAS Sustainable Brewing
KU Leuven
Postgraduate Program in Malting & Brewing Sciences
Kwantlen Polytechnic University
Brewing and Brewery Operations Diploma
Master Brewer Academy
Professional Brewer Training (prep for the IBD exam)
Master Brewers Association of the Americas
Brewery Packaging Technology, Brewery Maintenance Systems, Brewing and Malting Science
Niagara College
Brewmaster and Brewery Operations Management Program
Niagara College Artisan Distilling Program
Sacred Heart University Brewing Science Program
Siebel Institute of Technology
All Advanced and Intermediate-level courses
UC Davis Food Science Brewing
Master Brewers Certificate Program
UC San Diego Extension
Professional Certificate in Brewing
University of Arkansas
Brewing Certificate
University of South Florida St. Petersburg Brewing Arts Program
University of the Sciences
Brewing Science Certificate
VLB Berlin
Certified Brewmaster Course - in English