How do you name your original recipes?

My daughter/brewing partner and I have started brewing some of our own concoctions. We haven't come up with a name for our "brewery" yet as I think it's rather silly when we're brewing with extracts and some steeping of grains and adjuncts.

Since beers are like pets they have to have names that should say something about them. For instance tomorrow we're brewing a Clapton Cream Ale.

Others we've brewed so far are:

Muddy Water Ale (an American Brown Ale)
Skankin' Pickle Thick Ass Stout (an Oatmeal Stout)
Strawberry 4 Non Blondes Ale (Blonde Ale)
Tom Petty Raspberry Honey Bee Wheat Ale
Traveling Wiliburys New Blue Moon Wit (Witbier)

Just curious how others come up with their names.

Sometimes I base the names on what my concept for the beer is. Sometimes a fun name pops into my head then I tailor a beer to fit it. lol

Mostly by what they are, and as simple as possible like Centennial IPA, Amber Waves of Grain, Black Ale, Brown Ale, Rye Ale, Pale Ale, Black Lager, Amber Lager ...
I did not know I was supposed to name them..?

I understand why a craft brewery would want a cool name for their beer for marketing and all, but for my homebrew I'm perfectly content calling it by the style. If I happen to have two of the same style on tap at the same time, I refer to it by the hop that dominates the flavor/aroma profile.

All beers are named after dogs that I, or someone close, has had. A couple of friends and I all do the same and call our collective works, Bad Dog Brews. Although we know there are no bad dogs, only bad owners. We like the theme and it gives us a chance to honor our family members with the 8-15 year life spans. A little cheesey but whatever.

My beers are all "Beer Style TBN" until I randomly think of some name. There is no rhyme or reason to the naming, if I don't randomly think of something, it remains Amber ale TBN (for example).

I called the last one honey nut cocoa puffs because thats what it tasted like, which was a good thing btw, damn good.
Marionette ipa
Shadow puppet porter
Because I have a thing for puppets, but don't own any.

I wish I were more creative in naming my beers. My swmbo is the one with the marketing degree. I've already told her when I buy the brew pub she's going to handle the business and marketing (beer naming) aspects of it, and I'm just going to brew beer all day long. We'll see how that works

Usually a play on words or the ingredients.
Pale ale with amarillo hops - Route 66 ale ('cause Amarilo is on #66).
My california common - Uncommon Ale.
SMASH beer with Maris Otter - Smashing Otter.
Mild brown - Old English Oak

So far my simple recipes and stuff are just things that come to me.

Soon I'm gonna brew up an Arrogant Bastard inspired ale that I'm gonna use oak chips with to try and get some bold earthiness. Plan on calling it "Forest King Ale".

Heh.

It's stupid but after I was rather intoxicated off of our home brew I decided we would be called Home Alone Brewing Company and all beer names are attempted word plays from phrases from the first 2 movies. We just bottled the I Made My Porter Disappear last night. Again, it's very stupid, but it's enjoyable for now.

Random offensive movie quotes mainly.

Dated pop culture references.

Fraggle Rocktoberfest
Milli Vanilla Porter
I got tha pilz 2 pay tha billz

Etc...

So far, with one exception they are named after people I know.

1. Ale-X (Alex, myself)

2. Stepheweizen

3. A kriek named after a guy's handle on another website

4. Portal Porter (my tribute to the release of Portal 2. It's a porter flavored with bittersweet chocolate and cherry brandy so the end result is like the Black Forest cake at the end of Portal 1)

No rime or reason for mine. I just try to think of something sorta related to the style or the original beer and then try to be funny. Rarely works but I enjoy it

I was told that you have to name the first brew after your significant other (Although, SWIMBO told me that so...)

First was a European Bock - "Tru Love Winter Bock"
Next was an Oberon clone - "Ober-rated"
Next was a Belgian strong - "Belgian Blackout"
And so on

i use ex secretaries of state combined with movie genres.
example -madeleine albright erotic thriller kolsch.
it's a formula that works for pet names, too- just ask my dog, henry kissinger romantic comedy spaniel.

The first beer I ever made I called "Inspiration Ale" and while it was truly an ale, it was the inspiration to keep me going and doing. I have one conditioning right now called "Bunker Buster" because it sneaks up on you and then "BOOM!"....strong enough to bring you down.

I don't.

Puns. Always puns.

Mostly I stick with the same style you've got, rjcortez, except the tunes I name mine after are metal songs- Freezing Moon Maple Ale (Mayhem), Scars (Morbid Saint), Raise the Dead English Brown (Venom).

Beers tend to remind me of the seasons, or something weather related. When I was doing the math for my first recipe I was also thinking about summers in Tucson AZ with my dad sitting under the porch having a drink and watching the Monsoons come down full force.

Thus, Monsoon IPA was born. Its trademarked now, so dont steal it Interestingly enough, my first attempt at this beer is on Saturday. I'm sure I'll redo it a dozen times before I get what I'm going for

I'm not terribly witty when it comes to naming stuff, so I doubt that I name too many of my next recipes unless there is something that really stands out.

Puns or play on word with a music or location theme usually. Also situational if applicable.

Usually something goofy happens on brew day and the name follows.

wildwest450 said:

I don't.

Click to expand...

ditto.

"whats this?" "i call it vanilla stout." or "citra ipa" or "french saison" etc..

Some are named after an event: Thanksgiving Bock; August Long IPA; Dead Dell Pilsner (spilled a beer into my laptop--but it recovered and I am typing this message on it)

Some are based on research into the history style: Evil Goat of Ainpoeckish; Kronenruhr Special Lager; Bamkerla Rauchbier

Some are just something that tickles my funny bone: Upside Down Flint Rubble Bubble Dubbel; Fat Czech Pilsner (named in honour of my chubby chaser buddy)

Homebrewtastic said:

Dated pop culture references.

Fraggle Rocktoberfest
Milli Vanilla Porter
I got tha pilz 2 pay tha billz

Etc...

Click to expand...

New Kids on the Bock
Subliminale

I stared at the screen for 10 minutes and these are the only two I came up with...

My mother has a farm called Grove Hill Farm so I am calling myself Grove Hill Brewing.

As for names, I'm trying to stick with California/tree names.

My first brew is Pacific Palm IPA
My second brew is California Redwood IRA

Since I'm never really motivated to label my beers they never really get named. Plus mostly been doing other peoples recipes so it doesn't feel right to name them. I did do a stout that I had to stick a sanitized arm into and I remember how sticky my arm was hence the name "sticky arm stout". I thought it would be cool for a commercial brewery to name a beer this and have some random person stick their arm into the wort and record it in some book. Maybe even put the name on the bottles for each batch.

I have to name every beer I make, which is almost a chore after awhile, but I still have to do it. Most of the time, I go with some current event in my life at the time I brewed the beer. Someone wrote "Guabi Guabi" in the drying cement in my driveway. So, "Guabi Guabi IPA." During March Madness, Michigan's basketball star was named Manny Harris, but most people didn't realize his real name was Corperryale Harris. So, Corperry Ale was the name of my California Common that I brewed that month.

I think a lot of us like to fantasize about having our own brewing, and I think it's fun play pretend. I call my Brew shed "New Revolution Brewing Co." Most of the regular styles I brew have been adjusted so much that I don't know if they're still "technically" that style, so I only call a beer by style if I brew a kit. The American Revolution is a major interest to me, so I name my beers after rebels or acts of rebellion during that time.
Dead Red Coat (Irish Red Ale)
Midnight Ride (Porter)
Boston Wheat Party (American Wheat)
Sons of Liberty (IPA)
Down With the Crown (Brown Ale)

Thanks everyone I don't feel like such a total goof ball naming beers now. We aren't labeling them because they never stay around long enough to bother. We use a color code of colored caps and those little avery circle stickers to keep track of what batch is what. Working on trying to keep better records in some kind of spreadsheet or database where we can track dates and comments, suggestions for improving or just don't bother brewing this again.

I've had several people ask me what we're calling our 'brewery' and I just laugh. But I'm sure there will be a night of imbibing home brew that the brewery will name itself.

As I brew at my parents cabin every time. I have named myself Mineral Rights Brewing. Because of a hiccup in purchasing the land over the mineral rights. But my beer names come from whatever weird things I can come up with. My favorite is "the Carpet doesn't match the drapes Blonde Ale"

pmkealiher said:

Dead Red Coat (Irish Red Ale)

Click to expand...

I will admit, thats a good name (f the english!). :rockin:

I take the name of my first pet, then I take the name of the first street I lived on and merge them together. Ex:

First Pet: Ruby
First street name: Kingston Row

Hence; Ruby Kingston Ale

In the very least, this will create a very unique stripper name and will ruin the rest of this thread. Enjoy

P.S. I did create a Ruby Kingston Ale. it was a very deep red ale, very hoppy and a nice finish. i will try to find the recipe.

I usually name mine from song titles. Works for me.

I'm a huge fan of horror movies (the cheesier the better) so I use horror themes. I've got a Blonde Ale coming up called "They're Coming to Get You, Barbara" which in retrospect is a very long name for a beer. But I think making amusing labels is half the fun. Also got a Pliny clone coming up that I was planning on calling "Pliny the Undead."

Anybody else brew a Smorgasporter?

I wait until I have enough leftover stuff from other brews and just mix it all together. They've all been pretty good. I always wright down the recipe in case I happen to brew a masterpiece by mistake.

I'm going the offensive route with mine. It makes the labels on photoshop more fun. I haven't printed a single one yet though. It's fun to goof around though. I'm thinking of a series of serial killer themed imperial beers.

i'm naming all my beers rick astley, from now on.

spearko520 said:

i'm naming all my beers rick astley, from now on.

Click to expand...

Masterfully done.