Naming a beer, does it matter?

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I think it is fun to name them. We put a lot of work into coming up with recipes and a lot of work refining our processes. Naming the brew is in a way, a means to mark the accomplishment - when it is finished, it deserves a name.

My first IPA is "Problem Child" since it was my first born and learning AG brewing presented its share of problems. I have that one down pretty good now.

My next brew, significantly more successful was my Rye IPA which I named "Little Brother" a bigger beer with a good punch.

In my mind, I am creating a product line - one to be proud of. I am choosing to build the beers with matching names and sticking to a small town kind of lineage. Next week I am brewing Hanacroix Creek IPA - a local creek that is a tributary to the Hudson river. Beyond that, I am working on the Coeymans Hollow Porter and Alcove Amber. Who know what after that.

Obviously it is all in fun and I am really new at it - but still, I am proud of what I am doing. A name for some reason indicates how much care went into it all.
 
I named most all of them so far, whether they received labels or not. Recently, I changed the name of my home-brewery to Weird Alice Brewing, so hopefully I can run some "Through The Looking Glass" puns/names for a while, or at least other fairy tales. My first two AG IPAs, using some experimental hops in the boil, are going to be named Tweedle-Dee & Tweedle-Dum. The rye red DIPA might just be Little Red Ryeding Hood.

Each bottle, on the label, already says "Drink Me"... I'll have to come up with something clever to name "Eat Me" - maybe an oatmeal porter or stout.

You should do a session named "The One that Mother Gives You..."
 
..........Here's a couple of examples from the last two beers I've bottled, an Irish Red and a Saison Brett. (And, yes, I screwed up the brew date on the Irish Red and forgot to change the year....I didn't actually wait a full year to bottle it.)

The brew date was the first thing I noticed lol. I thought..dam that's some serious aging for an Irish red!!
 
Good one, but that infers you're supposed to wait until you're done with the lawn. ;) Other lawn-associated possibilities not limited to post-lawn only:





"Lawn Time Coming"





"In The Bag"



"Three-Inch Buzz"



"






...


I am pretty sure "three inch buzz" would bring about a few conversations!

I was going to use song lyrics of 2 of my favorite bands (Phish & Grateful Dead) but that would have brought scorn from SWMBO

But the door is still open!
 
I knew right out the gate that I wasn't creative enough to name my beers, so I don't, and just call them by their style. I built this thinking into my home brewery name - what you see is what you get (wysiwyg). Sometimes I just go with the LHBS name.

All that said, my current brew is Northern Brewer's Moustache Envy. My bag ripped during the mash and some of the grain slipped out and attached to my element, creating a scorched taste. I call this one Singed Whiskers.
 
I made a Fulton's Lonely Blonde clone for my friends wedding because when they first met this was the first beer they had. People at the wedding ask if I had a name for it so I just called it Accompanied Blonde (since she was no longer lonely).
 
I don't name all my beers, but if I came up with something I thought was clever, like A Whiter Shade of Pale Ale, I'll use it. Lately I've just been giving my beers names that are people names:
Lucy - English Bitter
Lucy's Twin Sister (a build on Lucy)
Wilson (king of Prussia) - Oktoberfest
Bruce - Hefeweizen (el jefe = the boss = bruce springsteen)

I never make labels, but sometimes I do enter them into Untappd so I have to name them something.
 
I name most of my beers. I like certain styles and brew them much more frequently than others. Often times the same beer will have a different name each go around....

For ex, my Cream Ale:
1. Clydesdale Ale / Clydesdale Drool
2. The Bullpen (there's only one place to go when you need a relief pitcher)
3. Farmer (insert name)'s
4. Tipsy Tractor
 
I figured Wilson would have been a hoppy IPA or heady clone!
Yeah, I suppose that would have made sense too!

Since Prussia was generally the same region as Germany, and I must have been listening to Phish at the time, it seemed somewhat appropriate for an Oktoberfest.

I'm planning an IPA for my brother-in-law, who for some reason I have in my phone contacts as Awesomeness, so my next IPA is going to be Awesomeness, and the IIPA version will be The Big Awesome. I don't do many IPAs though (I usually brew beers that aren't as commercially available), so I don't know when I'll get to it.
 
I've started naming beers after I've noticed that my friends who drank it haven't died, been hospitalized, barfed on my floor, sued me or beat me up.

I only keg, and so I need to get some kind of display board for them. My bar downstairs is done up in a cheesy gangster Jazz era style and is named after my elderly kitty Molly, hence Tommy Gun Molly's Swanky Jazz Bar and Seminary (I'm teach Religious Studies at a local university). The brewery is named after bar's security detail, the Bedlam Boys (2 other cats). The Bedlam Boys Barley Soakers (totally legit libations, medicinals and sacramentals). Not all the beer names don't really match the bar's theme, but what the heck?

Couch Grouch Extra Snarky Bitter
Hop a Cab Home IPA
Jamie's Hoprological Research Ale (Named after an anthropologist friend who gave me some home grown hops).
Dipwit Witbier

I will soon be brewing up some
Coal Porter
Ink Pot Ale (black IPA)
Ruby Brewsday (Irish Red)
Czech Your Pilsnerage at the Door.
 
I guess I have boring names also...
Honey Pale Ale
Summer Wheat
Black IPA
etc.
I have named our garage "Tall Boys Brewing" - I am 6'4" and my son is 6'5"...sooo Tall Boys Honey Pale Ale and so on.
 
I name all my beers, it is fun and just another part of the hobby for me. I try to find an ingredient to play off of or an event I am taking my beer too, or the location I brewed at. Sometimes I time I just hear words people say in general conversation and think to myself, hey that would be a good beer name then I design my beer around the name.
 
we made the mistake of naming our kids. now they won't leave. I mean c'mon! you're 5 and 8 already!


I bet you fed then too. Classic mistake.

I name my beers, because they deserve names. Most of them are goofy jokes. My coffee whiskey chocolate RIS is Steak Toaster. If you get that joke then we can be friends. Every Saison regardless of the recipe is Hobbit Toes. If you get that joke we're probably already friends.
 
I name all my homegrown recipes, or the batches that end up a long enough shot from the directions that it isn't the same recipe as the kit. I try to come up with clever names for most, but some end up utilitarian. But all batches get labeled. Never good labels, but labels none the less.

Two examples.
Miel Ale was a honey cream ale, that label was a lavender variant.
Defective Clone was a botched 60Min Dogfish head IPA clone

Lavender Miel Ale.png


Defective Clone.jpg
 
My latest basic lager is called "pääsky max" since the Finnish company hartwall managed to bottle beer in Pepsi max cans... Pääsky is swallow in Finnish and our area is swallow bay
 
When I first started brewing back in the early 90's, Charlie Papazian's book was pretty much the sole source for learning how to brew. All the recipes had clever or fun names and it just seemed to be part of the hobby.

During a bit of banter with a coworker (that did not include beer), somehow I put the words Vicious and Fishes together and knew it had to the name of my brewery. With the brewery name in hand, my roommate and I used it as an anchor for coming up with beer names that followed the theme. What college age brewer doesn't love beer, pirates and piranhas, after all?

I designed a really crude label on my first computer (early PC era) and off we went. We named and labeled all of our beers. T-shirts and sweatshirts were given to all for Christmas presents... Somewhere along the way we dropped the tagline.

ViciousOriginalLables2.png

After a very long layoff when life got in the way of brewing, I started up again last year. After all the years that passed, there's a bit more in the way of discretionary funds. Taking the brewery and beer names to the next level was part of the appeal. I uploaded the old logo to a graphic design tournament site and had designers submit ideas for an updated logo and ended up with this:

VF1_Cropped.png

I use an alternate design as the label template for each beer. I add the beer name, its ABV and IBUs, print onto photo paper and run them through a cheap laminator I got from Target.

ViciousFishes_ExtraSpecialBiterLabelRed.png

And now that I have built a kegerator, I attach these labels to the front of the fridge using a bit of velcro. As kegs rotate through, each beer gets a label.

Kegerator.jpg

TapLabels.jpg

Vicious Fishes recipe names include:

Hurricane Amber
Piranha Pale Ale
Shark's Tooth Extra Special Biter
Into the Abyss Brown Ale
Blackbeard Stout
Privateer's Porter
Jolie Rouge Robuste (Jolly Roger, loosely based off of Heretic Evil Twin)
Depths of Helles
Kraken's Fury Kolsch
Vicious Christmas

It may be a bit cheesy, but's all part of the fun and a source of my enjoyment in the hobby.
 
I've taken to naming my beers, and there's a bit of variety in the names depending on what I feel like calling it at the time. I've wanted to do some witty names, but so far it's mostly just been a nod to pets or the location I live in. If I make a clone or recipe kit, I usually just use the name or a modification of it. Since I don't like the work of removing labels, I've taken to printing the names on Avery dots and putting them on the cap, so when you open a bottle, away goes the label. Once I finish making my wooden beer cases, I plan on trying to make up some nice labels to put on the boxes, but that's just for fun.

I will say though, I've brewed a particular beer a few times now, my goal was to re-create (as best I can) a beer that's no longer made by Erie Brewing Company. Well, the name still exists with them, but it went from an American Amber Ale (which I loved) to an APA to an IPA. In each attempt to tweak the recipe, I've retained my original name for the beer, April Springer Amber. I just make a note as to which version it is, which will go away once I get the recipe dialed in to what I want.
 
There's no doubt that it's part of the fun... and after all of the hard work, your beer deserves some personality.

But just as important, is that believe it or not, it absolutely has an impact on others that try your beer. It sets up an expectation of flavor and style, and subconscious or not, it makes a difference.
 
When I first started brewing back in the early 90's, Charlie Papazian's book was pretty much the sole source for learning how to brew. All the recipes had clever or fun names and it just seemed to be part of the hobby.

Your brew story mirrors mine pretty closely.
Still have that copy of Charlie's book.
Started brewing again almost two years ago. Carved out a little corner in the basement for brewing. I also name my beers they mostly reference basement or bottom floor.
Bottom Floor Porter
Fat bottom IPA
Underground Mild
One floor down nut brown
Then others not so much
Wonkalusiuos stout
Aww shucks cream ale.
 
I'll name them when recipe tweaking is done and continually brewed. I have a maibock kegged. Hopefully it earns a name. With that, maybe Hopeful Maibock. Or I wish I had a name Maibock. To be really pretentious they could be combined. Hopeful Maibock...or I wish I had a name.

Any SMaSH could be a Hulk Smash!
 
I'll name them when recipe tweaking is done and continually brewed. I have a maibock kegged. Hopefully it earns a name. With that, maybe Hopeful Maibock. Or I wish I had a name Maibock. To be really pretentious they could be combined. Hopeful Maibock...or I wish I had a name.

Any SMaSH could be a Hulk Smash!

Well put, most beers I brew don't deserve a name. I should probably stop naming conventions until I plan to keep them around
 
I'll name them when recipe tweaking is done and continually brewed. I have a maibock kegged. Hopefully it earns a name. With that, maybe Hopeful Maibock. Or I wish I had a name Maibock. To be really pretentious they could be combined. Hopeful Maibock...or I wish I had a name.

Any SMaSH could be a Hulk Smash!

Well put, most beers I brew don't deserve a name. I should probably stop naming conventions until I plan to keep them around.
 
I like to write down things people say in meetings or conversations. When I was at a bachelor party one of the guys passed out in the middle of camp, and off handed some said "that is a classic case of guy on the ground" so now one of my beers is called classic case of guy on the ground.
 
I'll name them when recipe tweaking is done and continually brewed. I have a maibock kegged. Hopefully it earns a name. With that, maybe Hopeful Maibock. Or I wish I had a name Maibock. To be really pretentious they could be combined. Hopeful Maibock...or I wish I had a name.

Any SMaSH could be a Hulk Smash!

I've named mine but I keep the name locked away as you do until the name deserves to be uttered. Let's say it's a rough draft.
 
I generally come up with names for what I put on tap in my house, because I use a small chalkboard to label the taps with name, style, and ABV. Those three things are usually all my friends/family care about what they are drinking.
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I name every beer I make, I find that to be a fun part of the process. The only names I don't understand are the ones I've seen in competition like:

This Beer is just a Starter for my Imperial Stout
This isn't very good and will probably be dumped in the parking lot

Basically beer names shouldn't be sentences, in my opinion.
 
I called my first batch "Baby's First Steps" and cropped in a picture of my son standing on the beach for his first time. My second batch is called "A Bit Witty" (Belgian Wit). My next batch is an IPA that I'm thinking of calling "Eye of the Reaper" or something.
 
I like coming up with beer names but haven't named all of them. I've named beers for special occasions, my dog, or just something that seemed appropriate for the beer:


  • Chrispo, A Classic American Pale Ale (after a friend)
  • Bell Ringer, A Bell's Two Hearted clone, brewed with yeast cultured from 2Hearted
  • Dark of Winter, An Imperial Stout
  • Celebrity Ale, A Pale Ale (friend's birthday)
  • Crooked Trail Honey Pale Ale (named after the apiary)
  • Destroyer IPA, an IPA brewed with Conan yeast cultured from Heady
  • Ruby, A Red Rye Pale Ale (after our beautiful yellow lab)
  • Rumble, A big-ass double IPA per Vinny's Pliney recipe, named for an annual football game

and I spend waaay too much time (according to SWMBO) creating labels where I'm going to bottle. Call it a creative outlet - which frankly, all of brewing is for me.
 
I like coming up with beer names but haven't named all of them. I've named beers for special occasions, my dog, or just something that seemed appropriate for the beer:


  • Chrispo, A Classic American Pale Ale (after a friend)
  • Bell Ringer, A Bell's Two Hearted clone, brewed with yeast cultured from 2Hearted
  • Dark of Winter, An Imperial Stout
  • Celebrity Ale, A Pale Ale (friend's birthday)
  • Crooked Trail Honey Pale Ale (named after the apiary)
  • Destroyer IPA, an IPA brewed with Conan yeast cultured from Heady
  • Ruby, A Red Rye Pale Ale (after our beautiful yellow lab)
  • Rumble, A big-ass double IPA per Vinny's Pliney recipe, named for an annual football game

and I spend waaay too much time (according to SWMBO) creating labels where I'm going to bottle. Call it a creative outlet - which frankly, all of brewing is for me.

"Bell Ringer"... I like that better than what I picked for my Two-Hearted clone, "Broken Hearted". Nicely done
 
So out of curiosity does anyone name their beers (i.e.:sculpin, hop mania, backwoods bastard) or just call it "bob's IPA"?

Do you keep the specific name for the specific recipe or only the style?
Where do you come up with the name? Part of me thinks it is just beer call it what it is.

I name my beers usually something related to the beer, but also usually name them in French to reflect my Cajun heritage. The names are tied to the recipe although I will tweak recipes from time to time. Most of my IPAs get some sort of d'Inde modifier (of India) with the first part of the name being either something related to the hop or flavor/aroma profile (e.g. Mosaique, Fruit, Jaune, etc.). Some of the other stuff is based on plays on phrases or words. Saison de la Sorcière (Season of the Witch) is a dark saison that I make. Réveiller Et Fais Do Do (Wake Up Go To Sleep) is my coffee stout. I just recently came up with an Imperial Stout base that I called Figure de Malchance (a bad luck charm or black cat). I aged some on coffee and named the result Réveiller Et Mourir (Wake Up And Die).
 
Working on one that when I get the recipe right, I will call it Fibus IPA.

Very little in the boil, lots at flameout and after. Fibus stands for (well, almost) Forget IBU's
 
If you don't name your beer, it won't have self esteem. At least clap hands for it. :)
I keg now, so no labels, rarely names. When I did name them, I picked a name that had to do with the style, the recipe, or something that happened during the brew-day. My Flying Dog clone was Fat Cat, (The cat lost weight since then) the Pliny clone started so citrus-y that I called it Hopsicle. Have fun with it, but don't stress either. We're not poets or artists, we're homebrewers. (With apologies to any Homebrewing Poetic Artists)
 
You know, we've got our keg system on order (from Kegconnection, it was a good deal!) And while I have carefully named our brews, and made labels for them, applied to each @#!^% bottles and all...I will still name them in the kegs because we got the Raspberrypints thing going, so yay! We can still post the names. One day there will be a keezer with a display for what's on tap....We will be brewing the Vernal Equinox APA tomorrow, and shortly thereafter another Flat Tire Crone to get in our pipeline. It's part of the fun for me, at least. HWMO is just happy we got the brew and can drink it.
 
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