If you consider yourself a beer enthusiast, there is likely one particular beer that sparked your initial interest in the craft. Perhaps it was a life-altering event, like it was for me. (Samuel Smith’s Tadcaster Porter, btw.) One beer that changed the way you think about beer. The one that made you say, “I didn’t know beer could be this good.”
For the craft beer industry as a whole, it’s kind of the same thing. There are certain beers that came along over the years and changed things. The American Craft Beer Hall of Fame, which was just formed a couple of years ago, calls them Landmark Beers.
Recently, the Hall of Fame introduced its class of 2026 Landmark Beers. I share the list below. Also, the list of inaugural awardees: the class of 2025. It’s hard to argue with the choices, but at the same time, there are just so many beers left to earn the honor.
2026 Landmark Beers
- Allagash White Ale – “This iconic flagship beer, launched in 1995, is a top-tier, benchmark examples of a Belgian-style Witbier brewed in the United States. A perennial award-winner domestically and internationally.”
- Alaskan Smoked Porter – “Introduced in1988, this smoked porter paved the way for many different smoked styles that followed. ASP holds the distinction of winning more medals at the Great American Beer Festival than any other beer.”
- Goose Island Bourbon County Stout – “The first-ever commercial beer aged in wooden barrels that previously contained a non-beer alcoholic beverage -in this case, Bourbon. It created a whole new beer style category and a whole new palette for craft brewers to use in creating new and unique beer flavors.”
- Pete’s Wicked Ale – “Launched in 1986, Pete’s Wicked Ale is a pioneer of the American Brown Ale style that helped define the craft beer movement in the United States. At one time it was the second best-selling craft beer in the United States.”
- Russian River Pliny the Elder – “Pliny is an iconic, highly-rated Double (Imperial) India Pale Ale introduced in 1999. Pliny helped popularize the West Coast Double IPA style and is widely considered a benchmark for that style.”
2025 Landmark Beers
- Sierra Nevada Pale Ale – “The beer that brought Cascade hops to national prominence and helped define the American Pale Ale style.”
- Samuel Adams Boston Lager – “An icon that helped to bring full-flavored beer to mainstream audiences in the 1980s and put American craft beer on the global map.”
- Anchor Steam Beer – “The resurrection of a truly American beer style, and one that helped define the image and concept of craft beer for decades to come.”
- Celis White – “A revival of a nearly extinct Belgian style that brought traditional witbier to American craft drinkers.”
- Anchor Liberty Ale –” An early pioneer in the creation of the modern concept of American IPA, and an early standard bearer for what would become the country’s most important style of beer.”
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