Many of us first felt the call to homebrew after tasting a great hand-crafted ale or lager at a local brewery or brewpub. That magical sip bursting with flavor, the aroma wafting up from the head, the intricate lacing left in the glass. There really is nothing like the moment you realize that this is what beer should taste like.
You Found That Perfect Pint Of Magical Goodness
So you run out and buy a kit, or loved ones gift them to you, as was my case. You brew as much as possible, and start turning out surprisingly not-bad beer. Joy! And, once your confidence grows, you want to share this beer with friends and family. Hey, they like it too! Maybe there's something to this!
Now comes a time when your audience wants a good way to remember this nectar-of-the-gods. Sure, you can just tell them the base style, or which particular hops you used in secondary, but what's the fun in that? Half the fun of brewing is giving your operation and your product a great name with a ring to it.
You Loved It So Much You Have To Brew It Yourself
Brewing beer is a great creative outlet for most of us, the only creative outlet for some of us. The thought that goes into a new recipe, such as experimental hops and yeast combinations, or our latest scheme to coax a few more efficiency points from our setups, all contribute to the magic that ends up in our glasses. There are endless opportunities to let the right brain flex its muscles.
Personally, I spend almost as much time coming up with a recipe as I do coming up with a suitable name for the recipe. Early on, I fell into the wondrous world of beer-related puns. Don't get me wrong, I love a good play on words as much as the next grammar geek. However, many years down the road, obscure college football references and inside jokes just don't translate quite as well as they used to. If you like the clever tongue-in-cheek references to pop culture or subtle nods to the original recipe of a clone brew, more power to you.
I recently decided I wanted unique names for the recipes that I create. I am by no means a recipe master, having only brewed for about two and a half years. I'm still tweaking some of my favorites and go-to's. However, I wanted these mainstays to have meaning and identity similar to the back-stories printed on some of our favorite commercial offerings. Lagunitas, Sierra Nevada, and New Belgium are excellent examples of beers with outstanding names and great write-ups on the labels.
In Search Of The Perfect Name For This Beer
Though I don't bottle anymore, I haven't given up on label design. Rather than print out 50ish labels for each 12 oz serving, I've decided to paint my kegerator with chalkboard paint and display the beer artwork at the tap. I brand each beer I brew so that the whole experience can be remembered. Not just the exact blend of hops and specialty grains come to mind, but the whole intent of the beer is represented.
For example, I brewed an amber ale that I finished with blueberries in secondary for my wife who was completing a master's degree in trumpet performance at the time. She had enjoyed Atlantic Brewing's Bar Harbor Blueberry Ale before, and she wanted us to recreate it on our own. We wanted to incorporate the blues/jazz aspect while describing the beer. We called it Kind of Blue Ale in honor of the iconic Miles Davis album of the same name.
Another example is my robust porter that I spiked with roasted hatch chilies soaked in vodka. I looked up Hatch, NM where these little green slices of heaven are grown, and it lies right on the Rio Grande which eventually passes through my hometown of Brownsville, TX before dumping into the Gulf of Mexico. The river is known as el Rio Bravo del Norte to our friends south of the border, so I named this beer Rio Bravo Hatch Chile Porter.
Create That Catchy Name For A Unique Beer
Whether you're brewing a Bavarian wheat beer or a big malty scotch ale, give your beer some thought through the eyes of your intended audience. Think of the experience of drinking it and what you'd want to taste, smell, think, etc. After all, that first magical glass that hooked you so long ago was carefully crafted from idea, to recipe, to product in much the same way. Maybe someday you could inspire the next generation of homebrewers with your beer!
David and Amanda are a husband and wife homebrew team in Arlington, Texas. If you'd like to follow New Main Brewing's adventures in homebrewing, check out our blog:
http://newmainbrewing.blogspot.com
You Found That Perfect Pint Of Magical Goodness
So you run out and buy a kit, or loved ones gift them to you, as was my case. You brew as much as possible, and start turning out surprisingly not-bad beer. Joy! And, once your confidence grows, you want to share this beer with friends and family. Hey, they like it too! Maybe there's something to this!
Now comes a time when your audience wants a good way to remember this nectar-of-the-gods. Sure, you can just tell them the base style, or which particular hops you used in secondary, but what's the fun in that? Half the fun of brewing is giving your operation and your product a great name with a ring to it.
You Loved It So Much You Have To Brew It Yourself
Brewing beer is a great creative outlet for most of us, the only creative outlet for some of us. The thought that goes into a new recipe, such as experimental hops and yeast combinations, or our latest scheme to coax a few more efficiency points from our setups, all contribute to the magic that ends up in our glasses. There are endless opportunities to let the right brain flex its muscles.
Personally, I spend almost as much time coming up with a recipe as I do coming up with a suitable name for the recipe. Early on, I fell into the wondrous world of beer-related puns. Don't get me wrong, I love a good play on words as much as the next grammar geek. However, many years down the road, obscure college football references and inside jokes just don't translate quite as well as they used to. If you like the clever tongue-in-cheek references to pop culture or subtle nods to the original recipe of a clone brew, more power to you.
I recently decided I wanted unique names for the recipes that I create. I am by no means a recipe master, having only brewed for about two and a half years. I'm still tweaking some of my favorites and go-to's. However, I wanted these mainstays to have meaning and identity similar to the back-stories printed on some of our favorite commercial offerings. Lagunitas, Sierra Nevada, and New Belgium are excellent examples of beers with outstanding names and great write-ups on the labels.
In Search Of The Perfect Name For This Beer
Though I don't bottle anymore, I haven't given up on label design. Rather than print out 50ish labels for each 12 oz serving, I've decided to paint my kegerator with chalkboard paint and display the beer artwork at the tap. I brand each beer I brew so that the whole experience can be remembered. Not just the exact blend of hops and specialty grains come to mind, but the whole intent of the beer is represented.
For example, I brewed an amber ale that I finished with blueberries in secondary for my wife who was completing a master's degree in trumpet performance at the time. She had enjoyed Atlantic Brewing's Bar Harbor Blueberry Ale before, and she wanted us to recreate it on our own. We wanted to incorporate the blues/jazz aspect while describing the beer. We called it Kind of Blue Ale in honor of the iconic Miles Davis album of the same name.
Another example is my robust porter that I spiked with roasted hatch chilies soaked in vodka. I looked up Hatch, NM where these little green slices of heaven are grown, and it lies right on the Rio Grande which eventually passes through my hometown of Brownsville, TX before dumping into the Gulf of Mexico. The river is known as el Rio Bravo del Norte to our friends south of the border, so I named this beer Rio Bravo Hatch Chile Porter.
Create That Catchy Name For A Unique Beer
Whether you're brewing a Bavarian wheat beer or a big malty scotch ale, give your beer some thought through the eyes of your intended audience. Think of the experience of drinking it and what you'd want to taste, smell, think, etc. After all, that first magical glass that hooked you so long ago was carefully crafted from idea, to recipe, to product in much the same way. Maybe someday you could inspire the next generation of homebrewers with your beer!
David and Amanda are a husband and wife homebrew team in Arlington, Texas. If you'd like to follow New Main Brewing's adventures in homebrewing, check out our blog:
http://newmainbrewing.blogspot.com
