Do you give your beers a name?

General Homebrew Discussion
1

I used to just call my beers by the style, my pale ale, my IPA, etc. But I have a number of styles where I brew more than one version, so I started to create names for them. Some of the names I have are near-impossible to explain to others (such as Fluffed, my Belgian-American IPA, or Squito, a Belgian wheat specialty), while some are derivations (plagarized :D) from commercial names (30 Minute Pale Ale). The impetus for this post was that I recently created two new names, and my wife doesn’t like them, so I’m looking for other opinions.

I make several DIPA recipes. The most extreme is loaded with Simcoe, and someone who doesn’t care for the style or Simcoe might call it a solvent. So its now Tattoo Remover. Along those same lines, I decided to call my American Barleywine Tattoo, since drinking strong stuff has led a few people down to the parlor.

I’m finding it easier to name strong beers. Cool names for normal strength beers don’t seem to come to me so easily. One that I use is Sterling Gold, a Belgian pale ale (i.e. gold color) with all Sterling hops. Two others I like include Liquid Stoopid, a Belgian Barleywine, and Hertenval (Flemish for “Deer Valley” - I live on Deerhollow Ln), an Orval clone.

Finally, I have two that require quick explanations. During the “Great Hop Crisis of 2008”, I was discussing DIPA hop schedules on a different board, and one guy kept slamming me for using so many hops in one beer. He felt that, in a time of such painful shortages, it was “unethical” of me to “hoard and waste” hops. Thus was borne the name, Unethical IPA.

My wife and I both grew up with Rocky and Bullwinkle. The Moose of my nom de plume Siamese Moose is a Siamese cat whose full name is Moose of Frostbite Falls. His brother (RIP) was Rocket J. Squirrel. Our two youngsters are Boris and Natasha. The creator of Rocky and Bullwinkle was Jay Ward. Every year on his birthday, Spetember 20th, I brew Hokey Smokes!, a specialty that changes from year to year. 2010 was his 90th, so the OG was 1.090.

Does anyone else out there name their beers? Got any names that you’d care to tell us about?

2

Why wouldn’t you give them a name?

A few of mine are:
None More Black - an American-style Black Ale
Lighten up, Francis - a pale ale with a little rye and all cascade
Ever Summer - a pale ale with rye and all chinook
Event Horizon - an oatmeal porter I’ve got on right now that is amazing
Roots the Whiner - a milk stout named after my cat, Roots, who likes to meow a lot
Spring Forward - an amber with a little oatmeal
Falling Acorn - an IPA named after when I brew in my garage in September when acorns are falling out of the trees

I can understand not naming your beer if it’s a one off, but if it’s something you regularly brew, why wouldn’t you want to name it?

3

Except for the beers I don’t like.
American Barleywine “that whole curved space-time continuum thing”
RIS “Sagitarius A*”  (the black hole at the center of our galaxy)
Maryann or Ginger Ale
Marion Street Wheat

4

When I first started brewing, I did give my beers names.  I called myself ‘Biohazard Brewing Company’ (A Google search reveals others using that name now - other homebrewers).

I had beers like:
-Infectious Substance Ale
-Infectious Amber
-Berryhazard, Raspberry Stout
-Bottom of the Waste Barrel Oatmeal Stout
-etc.  lol

I haven’t been naming my beers lately.  I might name one occasionally, if I make it for or serve it at a particular event and I want a ‘theme’ type beer.

5

I almost never name my beers, almost all of them are just called whatever style they are.  If I brew the same style within a month or two I’ll call it #1 and #2. Occasionally I’ve named a beer only because I was entering it in a comp but I stopped doing that.  One of the few names I’ve given a beer was of course, Spanish Castle Ale (I’m kind of a Hendrix fan).

This weekend I am making an exception.  I’m making an American Pale Ale called Seal Team 6 (with an OG of 6 Belgian degrees).

A beer by any other name would taste as good.

6

I name most all of my beers that I brew regularly. A few of my favorite names include, and feel free to steal any if you like them, are…

Moose Juice (from Dr. Seusse)
  Thunderstruck (due to a big pop up strom while brewing)
  Ice Storm Stout (ice storm hit during my first AG, Christmas day)
  Evil Weazle
  Gitche Gumee (thanks to Gordon Lightfoot)
  Venemous Duck (it just sounds hilarious)
  Porky Porter (in tribute to my dog Porkchop R.I.P.)

7

I name all mine and make silly labels for the boxes I store them in. Most of my names are based on the inspiration beer or style, and are often bad jokes. Except for porters, which I started giving names with monkeys based on a running joke that our cat wanted a monkey butler.

Some of my recent beers:
You’re No Fun Anymore Barleywine  (a very convoluted Bigfoot reference)
Monkeys Aweigh Porter  (Anchor clone)
Brevity  (a witbier)
Her Highness, Her Highness Imperial Stout (Blackadder Reference)

My favorite is a beer based on Jennings (northwest England) World’s Biggest Liar: Pants on Fire

8

I wrote about this not too long ago in BeerAdvocate. (I think it was published already… meh)

Given that I have a word bent and I write about a lot of these recipes, I tend to name almost everything. A lot of times a name actually inspires a beer. (For example, I decided to make a red rye beer because  of the name “Bleeding Edge”)

A few things I’ve loved the name of:
Gonzo Hemp Poppy Spirit Wine
Springtime in Amarillo
Summer Bloody Summer Ale (a red ale I did with a friend where he cut off the tip of his finger while dorking with his mill)
Bloody Head Stout (the stout beer I brewed when the garage door decided to try and kill me by falling on my head)

the most recent one was the 6 day mild which I ended up calling
“Express Mild” - short, to the point

9

I don’t usually name mine, but there’s a few.

Wit for Brains - a wit, I use sweet orange and grapefruit zest instead of bitter orange, as Randy Mosher suggests
Schmidkerla - 100% rauch malt helles dopplebock
Seamus O’Brien - an Irish Stout, named after my neighbor’s father.  I brew it every year when he visits from Dublin

Some one-off beers also got names:
Double Nut Dunkel - sort of a strong nut brown with hallertauer and some Munich malt.
Once Bitten - a pale ale aged with Spanish cedar I made for a bachelor weekend for a friend’s second marriage
Independence Pale - brewed 7/4 one year

10

Each brew I do gets a name in the recipe book, that and some drawings / doodles representing the type of brew.

A few memorable ones:
Frozen Warrior IPA - Brewed from some hops I had stored in the freezer.
DomeRocker Dopplebock
Blitzed Blonde Ale
Wrecked Winter Cap

11

I try to name my beers but don’t always get around to it. No rhyme nor reason to it though. it’s just what ever hits me

a few

  • Kiwi X-Ing - A california Common hopped with all new zealand cascade
  • 1 stAG - my first all grain recipe, a belgian pale ale, was going to translate it to flemish, didn’t get around to it.
  • Venuse Vestonika (Paleolithic Goddess Stout) - an RIS with honey named for a stone age mother goddess statue found near Russia.
  • Sweet William - a barley wine I brewed to age (some of it) for 16 years until I can share it with my son.

but often times it doesn’ last long enough to get a name and I don’t rebrew it so…

12

Timely thread for me. I never have named beers but will on my next batch. Double Tap IPA, to commemorate the one who now sleeps with the fishes…  8)

13

Nice.  Anything worth drinking is worth drinking twice.

14

I only name them if they make it into regular rotation.

15

I like to name all of mine.  I didn’t when I first started brewing but when I got back into it a couple of years ago I decided they would all have a name, even if they were one off’s.

Some of the names have some sort of significance and some I just think sound cool  8)

16

I have only named one of my brews, so far.

The name came about as a mistake on my part. (Apparently I get dyslexic when drinking) The first time I made a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone, I bottled it. As I was labeling the bottles as SNPA, but after about 3 it became SNAP. After my friends finished making fun of me, they all started referring to it as Snap.

17

I have names for the styles on tap, not names for the beers themselves.  The names play with psychological disorders.  My SWMBO used to think I was nuts for wanting to brew my own beer and it kinda stuck.  A few of them are:

  1. “Just park’in son(s)!” Pale Ale (In honor of my Dad who had Parkinson’s.  It had a label with the truck wrapped around a tree and a shaky driver.  Dad loved the label but sadly could never have the beer.)
  2. Ma’s By Paul’er Bock
  3. Alzheimer’s Amber Ale - “I’d love another.  First beer I’ve had tonight.”
  4. Wheat you looking at?  Hefe
  5. Electro-Stout Therapy - “This shocks for you!”
  6. Schitzo Sour Mash “We told you to have a drink with me!”
  7. Bulemic Bitters “'cuz sometimes what goes down, must come up”
  8. Antisocial Amber Ale “pull me anther and leave me alone”
  9. Sympathetic Scottish /70 “If I could still feel anything, I’d know how you feel”
  10. Blonde Obsession – It’s a hobby, what can I say?
  11. Paranoid Pilsner “Is it just me or is this beer watching me?”
  12. Raging Red Ale “I been angry so long I don’t even remember why, but that still works for me!”

Paul

18

I very rarely name brews or label bottles.  As an exception, every terrible batch of ale gets named Fail Ale with some version of a Demotivator/“FAIL” pic on the label.  People love to taste these for some reason.

I also named an IPA “Furloughed Engineer” a couple years ago…in my case it was appropriate, as it was pale, bitter, and full of alcohol.  :smiley:

Otherwise, nah…by the time I think of a worthy name the batch is gone and I’m onto the next thing.  I’ve usually got a batch number in my head so that’s what I tend to call them.

cheers–
–Michael

19

Just have to say, I LOVE this thread. Really lets us see the worklings of each others minds.  :smiley:

20

I try to conceive of names for beers as what might be asked for in a pub (and do bear in mind I’m British and live in the UK), or where there’s some connection to my locale.

Thus far I have firmly hit on:

Indian Ink - Black IPA
Crafty Smoke  - Smoked Porter
GWR Steam - California Common. A nod to Brunel and his impact on Bristol (GWR stands for Great Western Railway)