Post Script: Landmark Beers

Photo: Jon Page/All About Beer, from a post I wrote 11 years ago for the magazine.

In February, a newly-formed nonprofit announced its inaugural class into the Craft Beer Hall of Fame. This is a brief follow-up to that project’s activities. My sense is that this is a sincere group who feel a need to honor the old guard and try to solidify their status in a constantly-changing world. Fair enough. This is one of those “someone is doing something on the internet” deals, and we don’t all have to love it.

On Tuesday, the same group announced a corollary to the most important founders—what they call “landmark beers.” I am not 100% sure what the goal is here, because the selections seem to be pretty random: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Samuel Adams Boston Lager, Anchor Steam Beer, Celis White, and Anchor Liberty Ale.

It is somewhat unfortunate timing, because they chose that final beer for its status as “early pioneer in the creation of the modern concept of American IPA”—when just a couple weeks ago, I listed the top ten romantic facts about beer—including the myth that Liberty Ale was an early IPA. (It was a dark ale that Anchor owner Fritz Maytag hated; the Liberty Ale we know today wasn’t born until 1983.)

I dunno. A “landmark” anything is always going to be a semantic/definitional category. If I were to consider American brewing in the past half century, I’d be looking at where we are and how we got here. Only one of the beers on this list played a role in that. Steam beer is a basically defunct 19th century style. Witbier is a commercial success, no thanks to Celis (Blue Moon and Allagash get the credit there.) Boston Lager was another commercial success, but the beer was also just an all-malt European-style lager (as the brewery has always proudly proclaimed).

Breweries in the US have developed a national tradition around hoppy ales. You might include Ballantine IPA (if you’re doing pre-craft beers) or Grant’s IPA or Sierra Celebration or Pliny or Heady Topper. Aside from hoppy ales, the U.S. revived barrel-aging and put an American spin on it with bourbon casks. Where’s Goose Island Bourbon County? The U.S. has also done a lot to create a new category of mixed fermentation beers with novel techniques. A New Glarus beer or La Folie might be appropriate. And so on.

Your mileage may vary, but I am left wondering about the purpose of this project.