Five Minnesota Beers Win Big Awards At 2026 World Beer Cup

The 2026 World Beer Cup just wrapped up, naming the best beers in the world among various styles. In an exciting piece of news for Minnesota beer lovers, a total of 5 brews made in the Land of 10,000 Lakes were named among the best in the world!

Each spring, the World Beer Cup comes hot on the heels of the Minnesota Brewers Cup, making for an exciting time among craft breweries around Minnesota vying for bragging rights to be able to say they have among the best beers available.

While it's understandably quite exciting to win an award in the Minnesota Brewers Cup, the statewide awards aren't quite at the same level as the worldwide competition. This year's World Beer Cup marks the 30th year of the worldwide competition, with a good number of Minnesota-made beers claiming awards over the years.

In 2026, a total of 5 Minnesota-made craft beers won awards. Three of those beers are made in the Twin Cities, while the other two are made in Duluth and Rochester.

READ MORE: Eight Northern Minnesota Beers Win Big Awards At 2026 MN Brewers Cup

Here's a look at each of the Minnesota-made beers that won awards at this year's World Beer Cup.

Minnesota winners in the 2026 World Beer Cup

Being a Northern Minnesotan, I will start with the northernmost made Minnesota beer to win an award, and head southward from there.

Duluth's Canal Park Brewing Co. was Northern Minnesota's sole beer to win an award in this year's World Beer Cup. Known by locals simply as "CPB", the local brewery won a silver award with their Night Trekker Baltic Porter - Aquavit Barrel Aged in the wood and barrel-aged beers category.

There were a total of 43 entries in this category, and Duluth's Canal Park Brewing collected a second-place prize in the category! Besting CPB in the category was a beer called "Ghoul Fuel - Rum Diaries Edition", which is made by Bull & Bush Brewery in Denver, CO.

Of the three Twin Cities-made beers to win awards, two of them are made by Northbound Smokehouse & Brewpub in Minneapolis. Northbound's Eisbock took gold in the German-Style Doppelbock or Eisbock category. while their Doppelbock got a silver medal in the same category.

Forgotten Star Brewing Co. in Minneapolis is the maker of the third award-winning beer at this year's World Beer Cup. Forgotten Star's Dark Skies Baltic Porter won gold in the Strong Porter category.

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The final Minnesota-made beer to win an award in the 2026 World Beer Cup is made by Rochester's Little Thistle Brewing. Their Double Elbow - Tonks Tuesday Pils got a bronze medal in the American-Style Pilsener category. There were a total of 80 entries into this category.