Naming your brew

Just a thought here, do you guys name all your beers? And what are some of your favorites?

Nuggethead Pale, Nuggethead IPA and so on.

I'm pretty lazy and uncreative....For example. In Beersmith and for tap handles....I have Pale I, Pale II and IPA III.

A little bit. At first they were all dog related names, such as docked tail pale ale, etc. now just a bit. Mostly known by type.

Norse gods and goddesses for the most part. Thor's IPA, Baldur's APA, Rane's Wit etc. For the first couple of years it was beer #1, #2, #3 etc.

Yes..... I do. For instance I have in house atm...... a Dark Wheat Porter- Charlie Murphy Darkness, Oud Bruin de Table- Belgian Sour Puss, Chocolate Stout-WV Coal Dirt & a Multigrain Red- Copper Top. I try to give each some kinda crazy name just for s**ts and giggles. Helps me remember what I have where and when I made it.

I knew I couldn't be the only one! I just put a brew in secondary that I call "Fancy 'Stache English Bitters"

the wife wanted a Belgian wit, so it's called BigHair Belgian.

Commie little brother gets CLB Red Barley Wine.

my red ale for St. Paddy's day is O'Rob's Red Ale.

an American IPA I brewed is named after the county I live in, Loudoun and is LoCo VA IPA. I like that it also kind of means "going crazy" in Spanish.

my mock maibock was brewed in honor of my as yet to be born great-niece/nephew, and since they chose to not know the sex before it's born they have not come up with a name and are calling it Sweetpea, so it's Sweetpea Maibock.

I used to try to think up creative names, but now I name my beers based on circumstances surrounding the brewing or outcome of the beer. For instance, my American stout came out with a lot less late hop character than I was intending so I don't consider it an American stout anymore. So I called it Benedict Arnold's Oatmeal Stout (I did use oats) after the infamous American traitor during the Revolutionary War.

Some good ones in there! I used to name my beers, but stopped along the way. May have to revisit it for my next batch, a munich helles using German ale yeast. Anyone want to name it for me?

JohnnyO said:

Some good ones in there! I used to name my beers, but stopped along the way. May have to revisit it for my next batch, a munich helles using German ale yeast. Anyone want to name it for me?

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Hell of A Ale Helles......

Idrum6969 said:

Hell of A Ale Helles......

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Way to pull a Rogue Dead Guy Ale and call a Helles lager an Ale!

I generally use a cat theme when naming my brews ex: fat cat, alley cat, calico.

I don't name them until it is something that I have fine tuned and they become a regular recipe. Before that - they are just generic - IPA, Brown, etc.

Some of my regulars -

British Mild - Barwench
Oktoberfest - The Kaiser
Pilsner - Radegast
Oatmeal stout - Big Wagon Stout - which spawned several knockoffs..
Oatmeal Porter - Little Wagon
Oatmeal Brown - Brown Wagon
Oatmeal Amber - Red Wagon
British Bitter - Barkeep
Bourbon Barrel Porter - The Lord
Barleywine - Fat, Drunk and Stupid
Belgian Dark - The Stinkeye
APA - Morning Fog
APA#2 - Vitamin C
Maibock - Drunk Monk

nukebrewer said:

I used to try to think up creative names, but now I name my beers based on circumstances surrounding the brewing or outcome of the beer. For instance, my American stout came out with a lot less late hop character than I was intending so I don't consider it an American stout anymore. So I called it Benedict Arnold's Oatmeal Stout (I did use oats) after the infamous American traitor during the Revolutionary War.

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That is frequently how mine get named. There is a famous mussel preparation called Brûle Doigts, or "Burnt Fingers." The idea is they are so good that you burn your fingers reaching in to the pot. After I burned my fingers on a hop bag in a Belgian Pale Ale, it was naturally named "Brûle Doigts" BPA.

I have my first Brett beer aging, and I am giving those names based on the time of year when the Brett was pitched- that will help me to remember when a year has passed and I can take a sample.

thood6 said:

Way to pull a Rogue Dead Guy Ale and call a Helles lager an Ale!

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That is one beer from Rouge I have not tried. I have tried the Juniper beer and their Chocolate Stout. Rouge is hard to to find in my area. Very few locations carry any of their products. And what is available is just a few brews. I wish I could find it......

Yup. On tap I have "Twin Peaks" Amber Lager and "Mandingo" Dark Ale. I bottled these and created the labels for Christmas girts.

It really depends on my mood. I have came up with brewery names but all are taken by members here on the site or are small micro or nano breweries.

Haw Creek IPA - neighborhood I used to live in
Cranbeery - a Cranberry beer for Thanksgiving
Dark Thunder - Strong Scot Stout brewed during a Thunderstorm
None More Black Vanilla Stout - inspired by Spinal Tap
Nacirema Pale Ale - (APA)Nacirema is American spelled backwards, also there is a cool article I use for my Sociology class
Redlight Ale - my house Amber Ale, a knockoff of Highland Brewing Gaelic Ale
#5 Apricot Ale - a Magic Hat #9 Clone
Cream Ale - not a very creative name
Pineapple PAle - same as Nacirema but with Pineapple added
Citra IPA - an IPA with all Citra
Yellow House IPA - my new house is Yellow

I have been recently loading up on IPA's for the summer.

Idrum6969 said:

That is one beer from Rouge I have not tried. I have tried the Juniper beer and their Chocolate Stout. Rouge is hard to to find in my area. Very few locations carry any of their products. And what is available is just a few brews. I wish I could find it......

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It is my favorite by them. It's all over the place even in the bmc dominated wasteland I live in. How is the selection in West Virginia overall? Gotta be better than Louisiana

it's usually what comes to mind when I taste the wort. one of my favorites was Monk's Spit Belgian Dark Strong. my house APA I call Wrong Direction (was aiming for something different, but very happy with how it turned out).

thood6 said:

It is my favorite by them. It's all over the place even in the bmc dominated wasteland I live in. How is the selection in West Virginia overall? Gotta be better than Louisiana

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It is getting better each passing year thanks to the tourism industry. If it wasn't for out of state visitors who come here to raft,hike,ski and rock climb....... I think the options would be very slim. Ol Mil Best and Bush aren't my top picks for brew. LOL I've seen Redds,Magic Hat, Some Rouge,Henry Weinhards & Shiner come into this area just in the last year.

thood6 said:

It is my favorite by them. It's all over the place even in the bmc dominated wasteland I live in. How is the selection in West Virginia overall? Gotta be better than Louisiana

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y'all have Abita. Turbo Dog is one of my favorites I can't get anymore. besides, Louisiana has a ton of coonasses. we have none in MN. I kinda miss them.:rockin:

Billy-Klubb said:

y'all have Abita. Turbo Dog is one of my favorites I can't get anymore. besides, Louisiana has a ton of coonasses. we have none in MN. I kinda miss them.:rockin:

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Tubodog the only one by them that i like. I exaggerate of course but I just got back from a trip to Colorado and now my Whole Foods selection is depressing.


Coonasses can be funny. Then you see them on tv making your entire state look bad. lol

thood6 said:

Tubodog the only one by them that i like. I exaggerate of course but I just got back from a trip to Colorado and now my Whole Foods selection is depressing.


Coonasses can be funny. Then you see them on tv making your entire state look bad. lol

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I got cousins that are 1/2 coonass. they make me laugh.

edit: I did NOT like their Purple Haze. not at all. Turbo Dog or go home.

If I name a beer, it has to do with something that happened during brew day. Theres Nuts in the Snow, a nut brown brewed on a snowy day. Theres Topless Wheat, a brew day so hot I cleaned up shirtless, and drunk. Thats about it.

I'd tried for some time to think up names for beer, and was quite unsuccessful- things like Wheat, Stout, and IPA. Lately I've been naming things based on songs- Hop Through the Heart IPA, for example. My wife's wheat I've named Ball and Chain. Kyle

mikeysab said:

If I name a beer, it has to do with something that happened during brew day. Theres Nuts in the Snow, a nut brown brewed on a snowy day. Theres Topless Wheat, a brew day so hot I cleaned up shirtless, and drunk. Thats about it.

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That's also how I name mine. I had one of my dogs piss on a Carboy when I was filling it from the kettle. That beer is now known as golden shower IPeeA.

I don't bother to name them yet. I'm still working out all the recipes and most of mine come from other sources with hop adj. (trying to get rid of the 4lb of American hops I have). I really don't feel I have ownership over the naming rights so it usually stays the same.

Sometimes I name them, sometimes not. I usually come up with a name by when I brewed it.

Fault Line Stout.... Was fermenting when we got hit with a rare earthquake on the east coast.
Fool Pale ... brewed on April Fool's day
Eye of Irene Pale Ale..... Brewed on the day hurricane Irene hit here
Super Moon Amber Ale... Brewed on the day of the super moon.
Armageddon Blonde... Fermenting when the world was supposed to end.

Others just get names on a whim.

Big Brown Dog Ale.... for my dog
Lights Out Dark Ale....Black IPA
Celebration Saison.... Brewed for a big family gathering
Serendipity Saison.... When I bought the ingredients I accidentally bought a different ingredient than was on my list. Brewed it anyway.
Crazy Belgian in the Attic....... Fermented it on the third floor of my house and it went crazy. Brew looked like a lava lamp for three weeks.
Tree Hopper IPA....... used three different hops and it morphed into tree hopper
Trickster Tripel...... My attempt at cloning Pranqster
Dubbel Date.... A Dubbel brewed with dates in the recipe.

Those are the ones that I can think of off the top of my head. Others just get generic names.

Just kegged a dunklewiesse and named it who's your dunkle. A belma and centennial IPA with lots of strawberry notes named it strawberry fields forever.

I usually name my beers after either song titles or lyrics.

Some of mine

Rigby English Brown Porter
Day Tripper Imperial English Pale Ale
Bulldozers & Dirt Brown Saison
Dead Flowers IPA
Rye-Annon Rye Saison
Long Black Veil Belgian Rye Imperial Stout
Hey Ladies Honey Saison


Most are of something I was listening to at the time I came up with the recipe. Others just come together. I like to name my beers, it is all part of the fun.

I'm with Schemy - a lot of music references - Whipping Post IPA / Tampa Red Ale / Idlewyld Mild / Round Midnight Stout - and some things that fit with the Wyld Hare brewery name - Fat Rabbit Belgian Pale Ale / Briar Patch Pale Ale / Dye Your Hare Blonde..... Naming them is part of the fun.

Idrum6969 said:

Hell of A Ale Helles......

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I think I got it. I used to have a radio show in college called My Own Personal Hell. I'll just call this My Own Personal Helles, considering I've bastardized the recipe.

Billy-Klubb said:

I got cousins that are 1/2 coonass. they make me laugh.

edit: I did NOT like their Purple Haze. not at all. Turbo Dog or go home.

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TurboDog is awesome. I'm a huge fan of their Restoration Pale Ale. Unfortunately can only get it in their Party Pack in these parts, which only has two bottles of it.

mikeysab said:

If I name a beer, it has to do with something that happened during brew day. There's Nuts in the Snow

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Man i don't want to know what happened on THAT brew day.

Glynn said:

Man i don't want to know what happened on THAT brew day.

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a few friends of mine thought it would be a great time dipping their berries into white house paint & slapping them against a brick wall to see who could make the biggest splatter mark. I always wanted to name a beer for that occasion. there may have been a small amount of beer involved that night...

The beers I entered into NHC2013:

Saison Vann Damme (after jean Claude Vann Damme)

Day Walker Red (amber ale)

Yet Another Pale Ale (I brew a bunch of pale ales)

Hall and Oatmeal stout

Alex the Gr8 (I'm a Washington Capitals Fan)

I name some after geologic places here on O`ahu such as my Tiki Ridge Porter (Robust Porter) and a "robust" ridge to climb. LOL

Some w/reference to my German born father, Hanseatic Porter (Baltic Porter) w/all German style or imported ingredients.

For other names see the signature below.

I'm a nerd. I have brewed two beers, have named both and created labels for both. Worse, I've decided to name them with chess themes (although the first was not). "White Knight IPA" is in carboy; plans for "Dubbeled Rooks" are in the works, as well as "Blonde Bishop".

I name most of my beers. I have an American pale that only used Apollo hops... Calling it Apollo Creed. My favorite thus far is my Christmas ale that is always called Baby Jesus Birthday Brew. And for Easter it's Zombie Jesus.

MedicMang said:

I name most of my beers. I have an American pale that only used Apollo hops... Calling it Apollo Creed. My favorite thus far is my Christmas ale that is always called Baby Jesus Birthday Brew. And for Easter it's Zombie Jesus.

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Nice.