Thoughts on naming a brewery

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I used to call my brewing operation the East Valley Brewery until a few years ago when I moved to the West Valley. So time to think of a new one so that I am not refering to my hobby as the brewery that dare not speak its name.

The mountain behind my home is called South Mountain. It is the world's largest municipal park containing many trails. I spend a great deal of time there. Still South Mountain isn't really a sexy name. (We have way too many common sounding geographic places here: South Mountain, North Mountain, Baseline Road, Rural Road, etc.) We even have Mesa Table Road and Picacho Peak which is Table Table road and Peak Peak when translated. How dopey is that.

I asked a local historian/author/racantour, Marshall Trimball, if there was a name prior to South Mountain. Here is his email.

The Pima used to call it Mohatuk, which meant “greasy mountain.” The rocks looked greasy after a rain. The Pima have some wonderful creation story legends about the mountains. It’s said that after the Great Flood, Elder Brother emerged as ruler with Coyote as his assistant. Coyote was sent to the Dark Cave to free all the animals but Rabbit died and to prevent Coyote from eating him the other animals decided to burn Rabbit.
Coyote had gone to the sun to get fire but he looked back and saw smoke and realized the other animals were already burning Rabbit. They formed a tight circle around Rabbit to keep Coyote from getting to him. Coyote kept running around the circle trying to get in. He finally leapt over two smaller animals and bit out Rabbit’s heart and ran away to and across the Gila River. There he stopped and ate the heart and the grease spilled over the rocks of the mountains and its marks were left forever on the mountains.
I hope I didn’t ramble on too long but that’s one of their legends and it makes a good campfire story.

The more complete story (how the Rabbit died, etc) is here: http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/HowtheRattlesnakeLearnedtoBite-Pima.html

Out of respect, I won't use any of the Native American names for a brewery. I'm not very fond of Greasy Mountain.

Here's what I am thinking:
Rabbit & Coyote Brewing
Still dependent on finding the right graphic, etc.

I'm going to give it some more thought- your comments are welcome.
 
Thanks for the replies. This is really helpful writing this out and explaining the meaning. If I am going to marry one of these ideas, I need to be able to reflect on other ideas and know in my heart why I like what I like and what ideas will be incorporated into my concept.

I understand the appeal of the Coyote, but there are/were a few Coyote named brew products out here. My ego won't permit naming it something that already exists, so the Trademark has to be clean. (Hey, why kill the dream, right?) The NHL Coyotes do not have a spotless ethical record here as well.

In the SW tradition, the Coyote is known as the Trickster, however, He is always bested by the Rabbit. (Sound like a cartoon?) That's why I emphasize the Rabbit over the Coyote.

Logo wize, I'd like to stay away from the over-the-top kitschy SW images (Howling Coyote with the turquoise kerchief etc) but still have that Desert feel to it. First impressions are to have a circular logo with the Coyote chasing the Rabbit filling in the complete arc of the circle.

A burning heart and circle elements will be included with perhaps a Rattle snake pattern (the Snake killed the Rabbit- Rabbit was the first death in the New World.)

This is from the Oaxacan tradition (pretty distant from here and more in common with Central America) but it captures the playfulness and style that I am looking for (see attachment).

0399222588.01._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg
 
sause said:
Or maybe Rabbits Heart Brewery.

That was exactly what popped into my head.

Hey kind of OT but related...didn't we have a thread on brewery names? For the life of me I can't find it and wanted to read it and maybe post.
 
I'm having a helluva time coming up with a name for the brewery, as well. At first, it was "Hops on Pop," complete with a pic of my daugher with her hands in the air, mid-leap. But, I feel odd having her pic on a bottle of beer. Recently, I was thinking about using the German for "The Bird", "der vogel," but I see a couple references online to "der vogelbrau," so now I'm off that.

Local references - Berkshire Brewing Company exists (and is pretty damn good), I could do Adams Brewing Company, but there's already an ABC (Amherst) that we visit. Greylock's a good local name, but I don't care for it particularly. Anything dog-related is pretty much overdone already.

So, I'm leaning towards "Fish + Bird Brewing." Fish & Bird is a Tom Waits song that I have sung to my daughter probably six or seven hundred times. It's an odd, gorgeous song about a love between a bird and a whale. I've even found a little bit of artwork to work with:

s_3484.jpg


It's hard, though. You want it to be something personal, but it also needs to have the right flow, a nice catch to it.
 
the_bird said:
I'm having a helluva time coming up with a name for the brewery, as well. At first, it was "Hops on Pop," complete with a pic of my daugher with her hands in the air, mid-leap. But, I feel odd having her pic on a bottle of beer.

It's hard, though. You want it to be something personal, but it also needs to have the right flow, a nice catch to it.


Hehe, you know I used to tell my oldest "NO, YOU SHOULD NOT HOP ON POP" when she was getting to big to jump on me like that hehe. One day wham! You fill in the pieces hehe, so after that I always quoted the book. I do know what you mean though, I am extremely protective of my kids to the point that I do not put pics of them on the internet...period. I would feel just as odd with them on a bottle.
 
I'm not that paranoid, I have pics of her up all over here.

This was the logo my wife helped me work up (and that she loves):

hopsonpoptransparentbackgroundcopy.jpg


EDIT: Sorry for the thread-jack....
 
the_bird said:
It's hard, though. You want it to be something personal, but it also needs to have the right flow, a nice catch to it.

I know what you mean. It looks as though you are proceeding down a similar path- going beyond locality or catchy concept and are looking to make it a personal investment. My advice is to do the work, talk about it with people. Thinking through it like this is very helpful.
 
BTW: Fish and Bird has alot of possibilities and you have already begun to make it yours with the Waits reference and the connection with your daughter.

I think in years to come she will appreciate Fish and Bird over Hops on Pops. Fish and Bird has a deeper hidden meaning that will appreciate as she (and your beer) mature.

In a few years, she won't want to be associated with the little girl image.
 
Hops on Pop is, at the very least, an IPA-to-be-developed.

There's another layer in that we were referring to Cassie as "The Fish" while she was in utero (although she's been "The Bean" pretty much since she was born). But, for nine months, we WERE Fish + Bird :D

For you, I kinda like "Rabbit Heart." You've got the backstory for local color. "Rabbit" and "Heart" are both pretty strong words with a nice, quick cadence to them. They flow well together. I would go with "Rabbit Heart Brewing" over "Rabbit's Heart Brewing," personally - just sounds a little tigher.
 
I actually had the exact same initial problems as olllllo - my brother/brewmaster and I have been brewing under the monkier West Revere Brewery for years. We've moved the operation across town, and have 4-5 year down-the-road plans of potentially buying a site to expand the brewing operation that is NOT in West Revere. It's actually in the Eastern part of the city, right on the Atlantic @ Revere Beach. This all kind of makes West Revere obsolete. My Dad, who taught both my brother and I to brew, also got us into Revolutionary War re-enactments and stuff....and we are all members of the Sons of the American Revolution so we are leaning towards some Revolution-themed ideas.

Same as olllllo, we're trying to circumvent the cheesy over-the-top regional stuff (my Dad used to go by Paul of Revere Brewing :D ) and making us something al bit more subtle. We've been batting around:

Black Powder Brewing Company (anyone ever fired a musket? .80 caliber balls, baby!)
Two If By Sea Brewing Company (kind of chesy, but the 2 brother thing.....)
Barking Iron Brewing Co (slang term for early pistols)
Powderfinger Brewing Co (i always come back to neil young, much like bird and tom waits ;) )

After reading your initial posts, I like sticking with the rabbit theme. I'm coming up with all sorts of dumb rabbit names....I'll pipe back up when one of them sticks. (don't want to just be a 'jacker!!!!)
 
Fiery Sword said:
Black Powder Brewing Company (anyone ever fired a musket? .80 caliber balls, baby!)
Two If By Sea Brewing Company (kind of chesy, but the 2 brother thing.....)
Barking Iron Brewing Co (slang term for early pistols)
Powderfinger Brewing Co (i always come back to neil young, much like bird and tom waits ;) )

"Black Powder" ought to be the name of your next stout, at the very least. "Dead Redcoat Ale." You could have fun with the Revolutionary theme...
 
I like the rabbits' heart theme, but "burning rabbit brewery" rolls off of the tongue well also.




OT: A whale is a mammal, not a fish, right? :D
 
the_bird said:
so, who am I to tell Tom Waits that he doesn't know his mammals? ;)
I bet if you ever got the chance to point this out to Tom Waits, he'd have a really f*ing interesting response.
 
I like some of the ideas in here... Rabbit's Heart is pretty cool..
FWIW as I was reading the story.. the only thing I could think of was "Flaming Rabbit Brewery" not that I recomend using it.. But then again I have had a few tonight.. Got into the %12.5 hard ciders.. hehe..

SpamDog
 
I'm thinking of going with Bucketman Brewery. Long story

While in college one summer in Marquette, MI, a bunch of us drank beer on the porch of our fraternity house, while tying fishing flys, discussing how boring summer was in a college town with everyone gone but relaxing at the same time. Anyway, the city sent by a wood chipper and a guy in a bucket truck to trim the trees around the power lines, and, for some reason (alcohol), we decided that this was the coolest thing ever and were impressed by the kick as wood chipper and other power equipment . We asked "Bucketman" if he picked up on women by going up to their windows and he smiled and answered, "you know it." Keep in mind that this was a pretty redneck fraternity in the UP where you would more likely find a deer butchered in the garage than mommy's hummer, so it wasn't a bunch of rich kids making fun of the working guy. The guys on the porch were all Yoopers, former military, farm kids, or a combination of all 3. We ran into "Bucketman" since then in local bars and always called him "Bucketman" and bought him a beer, and when people asked him "what was that all about," he'd always respond. "Those are just my fans" and play it off like of course he has fans- you mean you don't have fans? Bucketman was cool like that. He played along really well and got a lot of free beer at the bar and would occasionally stop by the porch for one. Man, I really miss Bucketman.

Incidentally, I am setting up a bar/brew room/lair for Bucketman in the basement that will be dubbed "the Bat Cave." See, Bucketman is such a badass supervillian, that when he needed a lair, he kicked Batman's ass and stole his cave. The new bucketman (lower peninsula version) is a supervillian that empties my beers when I'm not looking, which is the only logical explanation I can find to explain my disappearing homebrew. If your homebrew is disappearing without explanation, he is probably the culprit. I never met the new bucketman, but I hear that he is incredibly good looking.
 
I have been using Coyotl Nanobrewery for a bit now, based on the UNIX username "coyotl" that I started using in 1997. I share [jeep grill]'s concern, though, that the coyote theme has become a bit played-out in the PHX region.

I have considered changing to use "Quiscalus Brewing" in reference to my favorite bird, the endemic Great-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus)

I like the fact that both Grackles and Coyotes have stubbornly refused to be pushed out by human expansion, both have adapted well to urban desert life, and both have mythological reputations for cunning trickery.

Calling it "Coyote and Grackle" would be too close to "Coyote and Rabbit" though.

Back on topic, though, I thing that the "Rabbit and Coyote Brewing" logo is really cool and I plan to buy one of your shirts. :)
 
coyotlgw said:
I have been using Coyotl Nanobrewery for a bit now, based on the UNIX username "coyotl" that I started using in 1997. I share [jeep grill]'s concern, though, that the coyote theme has become a bit played-out in the PHX region.

I have considered changing to use "Quiscalus Brewing" in reference to my favorite bird, the endemic Great-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus)

I like the fact that both Grackles and Coyotes have stubbornly refused to be pushed out by human expansion, both have adapted well to urban desert life, and both have mythological reputations for cunning trickery.

Calling it "Coyote and Grackle" would be too close to "Coyote and Rabbit" though.

Back on topic, though, I thing that the "Rabbit and Coyote Brewing" logo is really cool and I plan to buy one of your shirts. :)



I just saw 2 last night during my run.
 
You boys are really serious about this. I like the coyote-rabbit theme. There's a story there. I'm just doing a hobby, so since my dog lays on the porch of my brew shed when when i brew, Righteous Dog seemed ok.....:)
 
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