Landmark Beers

This page is dedicated to individual beers that have left a lasting mark on American brewing and drinking culture, and recognizes those singular brews that have helped define, advance, or transform the craft beer movement in the U.S.  It’s helpful to look at beers that didn’t just become popular—but actually shaped brewing practices, pushed boundaries, or paved the way for entire styles or movements. 

In order to choose which beers might wear this mantle, it was necessary to set parameters by which they might be measured:

  • They helped increase awareness and popularity of craft beer in America.

  • They changed the way Americans looked at beer.

  • They introduced new and exciting beer styles in America.

  • They set a benchmark for the style or process

These Landmark Craft Beers are determined by the Hall’s distinguished group of Advisors and Electors, with additional input from the beer-drinking public.

2025 Landmark Beers

This inaugural class of Landmark Beers includes five foundational brews in the American craft beer industry. 

●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.

2026 Landmark Beers

This sophomore class of Landmark Beers includes five foundational brews in the American craft beer industry.

*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.