Naming homebrews?

My friends keep asking what I call this beer, or what I'm naming my next brew. Naming a homebrew never occurred to me. Do you guys do it? Do you make labels too?

Hell yeah I name my beers. Most of the homebrewers I know also name thiers. We all have different ways to decide on a name. Mine tend to come to me after a long unsettling connection of thoughts. I make a blonde ale with a very simple grain bill, for that reason I call it "Dumb Blonde". A guy I know spent years perfecting his porter, chasing down just the right combination of ingredients, and calls it "Holy Grail".

As for labels, when I bottle I do make labels. If you're considering it search the forum for information on using milk as the glue. It's the best way to attach labels by far.

Yeah I used to name and make fun labels for every batch. Too lazy to do so theses days

No, I don't name my cars or bikes either. When somebody asks what it is, I tell them its an "IPA with such and such" hops. I am making some beer specifically for a snowboarding trip and was gonna have mg GF make some labels just because I thought it would be fun.

I name all my beers, but never label them...at least I haven't to date. Usually the name just pops into my head while I am formulating the recipe and is most often related to something significant in my life...a town I lived in, an ancestor's name, an interest or hobby of mine, whatever. Naming my beer is always something I enjoy.

I never used to but recent events have changed that.

In a recent thread I mentioned that I dropped the strainer in my fermenter and drunkenly thrust my hand into the wort. I titled the thread "I fisted my Irish Red!".

Another poster mentioned it would be a great name. So my first labeled/named beer will be "Fisted Irish Red".

I just hope future names do not come from mistakes I make, but then again, Its kinda funny!

I usually name them and always create a label for the ones I put on draft, which is most of them. Speaking of which, I recently brewed a Special Bitter and was thinking about naming it Kelli's Bitter after SWMBO...the joke being whether the apostrophe is used to show possession or as a contraction.

I don't label or name my beers unless I have a good reason like a special event or party.

I usually tell people the style and a little about it. I'm sure I'm boring them but that's the price they pay for some good quality homebrew.

name them all and label them all. its more fun to introduce them to friends that way. i dont glue the labels anymore though. just a rubberband around the bottle (or growler if its from the keg).

microbusbrewery said:

I usually name them and always create a label for the ones I put on draft, which is most of them. Speaking of which, I recently brewed a Special Bitter and was thinking about naming it Kelli's Bitter after SWMBO...the joke being whether the apostrophe is used to show possession or as a contraction.

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Nice. Who doesn't like puncuation humor in their beer?

Yes; I name them...#1, #2...I am brewing #43 this weekend.

FreshZ said:

Nice. Who doesn't like puncuation humor in their beer?

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I know, right? It's funnier after sampling a homebrew or three.

Historically I only had a name for a few of my beers, and would simply refer to the others by style. Now that am an @Untappd user I name all of them so that I can enter my beers in their directory.

microbusbrewery said:

I usually name them and always create a label for the ones I put on draft, which is most of them. Speaking of which, I recently brewed a Special Bitter and was thinking about naming it Kelli's Bitter after SWMBO...the joke being whether the apostrophe is used to show possession or as a contraction.

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lol, mine is named Mel's Bitter for the same reason!

I've named all of mine. I'll have a group of friends come over and toss a name into the yamaka naming hat and then we draw a winner, put it aside, and read the ones that didn't make it before revealing the chosen name.

It's been kind of rediculous though, my damn names have been drawn for every one of the beers except my very first batch.

I do normally name them on paper, but don't really use the name when people ask what it is. It's more of a way to remember things about the beer/recipe, ex. Little Big Horn Brown - used Warrior and Cluster hops (kind of like Custer) for an American Brown Ale.

I have been using the names from recipes I have found on here and creating labels for the fun of it and for distinguishing beers easily in the fridge.

Kelli's Bitter after SWMBO

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This is great.

I don't name every beer something different. I have one name for IPA, Pale, Stout, etc. I keep track of the different recipes via Beer Smith. For example the IPA I just brewed will be Hawg Juice #3 in Beer Smith. I found it easier to have one name and label for each style.

So kinda dealing with the topic, sources for labels? Post it notes? Spray paint? Engraving?

This will sound stupid I'm sure but we have a pretty cool home theater near the bar so I'm going for the cinema draft house theme. Of course this means I need movie title names! Here are some of my favorites:

Raiders of the lost ale
Planet of the ales
Drunkfellas
Kung fu porter
No porter for old men
Jackie brown ale
Silence of the lambics
Dirty rotten stouts
The neverending session
Chicken lager
Eternal buzz of the drunken mind
Grainbusters
Lord of the hops

Here are some straight names to go with as well like:

The hangover
Strange brew
The pursuit of happiness
The terminator
Red dawn
Kickass
National treasure

I used to, and I don't anymore. I just call them by style- Bohemian Pilsner, maibock. I have a few "old favorites" that I do name, just because I have about three favorite IPA recipes and they are very different. When Bob and I talk about what to brew next, he'll call them by the closest "clone" type of beer. Like the "Lakefrontish" IPA or the "Sorta Surly" IPA.

I used to spend time and energy making labels and naming the beers. Now, no, not ever. I just try to "name" them in Beersmith so I can tweak good ones.

Hey TK, how about The Hunt for Red Octoberfest

i name some but i am not a creative guy. i will usually have my brew-club crew name them from the experience of making and bottling them. i have one now that i was going to call Odd-balling but after i tried to cold crash in ND winter it froze. it is now a Snow-Balling Sioux brew. (Sioux have a snowballs chance of keeping the name and i am from ND). SWMBO makes labels if i am donating to friends or gifting them. i do make distinctive marks on caps to know the difference between batches, but no labels. too hard to make and remove everytime

D_Ranged_Eskimo said:

Hey TK, how about The Hunt for Red Octoberfest

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Haha awesome.. Gonna steal that, thanks man.

I've always named my beers. To me, it's half the fun! Here are some of mine.
Red 5- Irish red
Suckerpunch- IIPA
End of Days- APA (this could be your last beer, so drink up!)
SMaSHmouth- APA
Shock and Awe- porter
Éirinn go brách- Irish red (most recent, just in time for St. Party's day!)
Usually I come up with great name randomly and write it down, then make a beer for the name. It's kinda backwards but works for me.

I name all of my beers using Urbandictionary.com to come up the names. My Strawberry Blonde is called a Strawberry Blumpkin, Pale Ale is called Pastry Henry, and my Watermelon Wheat was called Pink Abyss(I won't put the definitions of those names on here since they are all a tad inappropriate ) I have named all 24 or 25 of my batches this way. It makes for fun conversation while drinking with friends.

I don't make unique labels though, I just use the hanging labels that Revvy came up with so that I don't have to mess with cleaning glue off bottles.

I name the recipe, but usually just refer to the brew by the style. Unless someone asks.

I use tie-on labels with simple note as to the style, like BEL for belgian, RED for red, etc etc

- B916

so that I don't have to mess with cleaning glue off bottles.

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Try using milk. It rinses off.

tennesseean_87 said:

Try using milk. It rinses off.

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I put a lot of my homebrews in a cooler with ice and bring them places so they wouldn't stick. Also the thought of hardening milk kind of grosses me out. It reminds me of the crusty milk you get when you unscrew the cap off a milk jug.

microbusbrewery said:

I recently brewed a Special Bitter and was thinking about naming it Kelli's Bitter after SWMBO...

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Good thing you didn't make a stout!

I've been using "Hello my name is.." labels, and then giving them a name based on the style. So far, Dr. Bock, Abbey Van Dyck, Bob Hop. Cheesy, perhaps, but it works for now.

I name my beers but I don't name cider or mead. Some of the names have been duplicated where I have changed the recipe or the name was originally used on a kit and has been succeeded by a personal recipe.

Jaysus said:

Now that am an @Untappd user I name all of them so that I can enter my beers in their directory.

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This is why I still name mine...

SuburbanBrewer said:

Éirinn go brách- Irish red (most recent, just in time for St. Party's day!)

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I've used that one for a dry stout. A buddy also came up with "Provisional IRA" for my Irish Red Ale.

Other ones I use:

Probably an IPA - IIPA -have tweaked (and converted to partial mash) my first ever batch a couple times since, named it the first time around since I had no idea what I was doing and no idea how it would turn out, and the name stuck

Maggie's Six Feet Under- ESB - cause I'm bitter about the fact that she's not. Thatcher. Not SWMBO.

Dockworker's Friend- RIS
Noble Monkey- Tripel
Funky Monkey- Brett Tripel
Steamfitter Lager- Cal Common
Down the Pub- English IPA

Although I rarely label them any more, only if I'm giving them away.