# The naming of beer.



## Singe de l'eau (21/5/14)

I'm on my 5th brew so far and have been enjoying every bit of the process, from the recipe research to watching the bubblier bubble not to mention the end results.

Anyway, one part of the process that appeals to my artistic side is the name.
So far I've done
Red Bird: Clove and cinnamon stout, named after our wedding song.
Opening Gambit: Blood orange and rosemary lager, named for being my first ever solo brew.
Lucky Piper: Lime and pepper India pale ale, named as it survived a heat wave that put it's temperature too high and it's still pretty good.
Sea Dog: Salted caramel aniseed stout, named as the recipe actually called for salt (but thankfully not dog).
The one in the barrel at the moment is an Oregon pale ale and I'm brewing it for my sister in law's birthday so I guess she gets to name it.

I like to (for labeling peruses) give the beer a two word name that I can quickly put the initials on the cap.

So I was just wondering about what names you give to your brews and why.


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## Judanero (21/5/14)

Nothing too special, at the moment I'm drinking a "Midnight Harvest" (Dark Saison) but mostly just "Dapper" and then whatever is somewhat relevant eg. Dapper piper (Scottish Amber Ale). 

Mostly because I am a gentleman (See avatar).

I must say, for only five brews under you belt you produce some fairly adventurous/experimental/exotic brews!!

I tip my hat to you sir, good show!


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## going down a hill (21/5/14)

If I name a beer its normally the ingredients that went into it. Eg- Marris Otter grain, kent goldings hops and ringwood yeast would be called The Golden Otter from Ringwood. That way if I look up my recipe data base I know which beer is which if I want to re brew or use a particular brew as a base to make a new beer.


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## Ducatiboy stu (22/5/14)

An extra N in your beer might cause issues.


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## Pilchard (22/5/14)

Psalm 91:15 He will call on me, and I will answer him, Beer...


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## manticle (22/5/14)

I'm pretty imaginative. APA, alt, esb, golden strong and ocassionally Barry or Samantha.


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## rbtmc (26/5/14)

So how does Barry taste, Manticle? When you put him to your lips; in your mouth... :lol:

I'm horrible at naming things but I want to print off the odd label now that I have a fancy new printer. Hmmm


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## sp0rk (26/5/14)

Mine are always some bad pun/joke on the ingredients or they've got some synonym for fat in the name (my brewery is called The Portly Gentleman Brewhouse)


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## Forever Wort (26/5/14)

Agreed about naming beers being great fun. It's the marketing ghost within dying to get out. 

Some of mine off the top of my head:

_I Think Therefore IPA_
_Tough Love Ale_
_Soft Oak Stout_
_Buddhist Bunny Wheat_
_Calgary Carrot Rednut _
_Black Mountain Big Bitter_
_Oh Fark Crimea Dark Ale_
_Pa Pa Pale Ale_
_The Light Stuff_
_Beer Ahoy Bia Hoi_


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## verysupple (26/5/14)

I'm similar to sp0rk, they're usually bad puns or something to do with the ingredients. E.g.

A series of witbiers: "Witty", "Witty Comeback", and "Oh Snap!"
An AIPA called "1592" because it has Columbus and Centennial hops
A bright blonde ale called "Oxymoron"
A Maris Otter/Centennial SMaSH called "Transatlantic SMaSH Hit"


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## Not For Horses (26/5/14)

I had an amber ale with Ella hops called Dame Ella.
But Dame Ella went out behind my back and got it on with lacto or aceto or some such and got herself an infection.
So now she's Ella, Lady of the Night.


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## jaypes (26/5/14)

I sometimes combine the malt name and the hop name (if its a simple recipe)

Like a Munich and Amarillo Smash I did - Munarillo.
Mariss Otter and Galaxy - Maralaxy

Otherwise its Pale Ale 1, Pale Ale 2, etc etc

My mates seem to always remember the numbers as their favoutiters


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## TheWiggman (26/5/14)

I thought the general way of naming beers was to think of two things completely unrelated and put them together? The Woolies' Sail & Anchor range comes to mind. Lark's Foot, Boa's Bend, Monkey Fist etc. Very craft.

I've only named one and it was based on a XXXX Bitter recipe. I call it Fourex Better.

If I ever took brewing seriously I'd do it on the Murray River and have names based on the local theme. Murray Stout, Hume Lager, Foord's Pale Ale etc. Maybe boring but more traditional. It's also much easier to say "Pot of Hume barkeep" than "One Larynx Footer of whatever they are, the pale one with the funny pic".


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## Forever Wort (26/5/14)

There's no question that naming your own beers and developing a brand to sell are two very different creative processes.


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## Lozbrewer (20/4/18)

How are you printing labels?

I did a run on my canon bubble jet and the ink ran as soon as the bottles were chilled


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## EalingDrop (20/4/18)

Laser printer. It'll last a few rounds of washing, just try to keep it as dry as possible, the soaking doesn't affect the print, but itll dissolve the glue.


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## Lozbrewer (20/4/18)

Thanks Ealing drop. That is something I’ve been keen to sort out for ages! 

Might even see if office works can print it.


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## Charst (20/4/18)

Forever Wort said:


> There's no question that naming your own beers and developing a brand to sell are two very different creative processes.



Agreed. I cant see Dan's stocking Tettenang FingerBang anytime soon.


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## munta (20/4/18)

Hopoates stink finger ale


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## munta (20/4/18)

Brown wings stout, golden shower lager


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## Angus (21/4/18)

One of my favourite names was Optometrist Ale (2 glasses and you're a spectacle).
I brewed a batch of sake once which I labelled Wry Swine - with a logo of two cunning piggies. 
I have grown lazy and generally just put the month number on the lid nowadays, so I know it's vintage.


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## RobW (23/4/18)

I don't usually name mine but I did once make a lager with Tettnanger called Tett Offensive


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## Danscraftbeer (23/4/18)

I've got some special names for some of my brews but not tellin on the internet. Just in case Its liked by any reading pro's that could just rip it off and use it haha. Who knows I might one day release a brew somehow. Can you copyright beer names?


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## wide eyed and legless (23/4/18)

My Dad makes one every year called George Best Bitter, to commemorate George Bests birthday in May some time so no doubt it will be already made.


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## Joel3001au (24/4/18)

My nickname is Willy, and my brew house is called Willy’s Brew. Naturally then, the naming of my beers are all dick related:

150 Turkey Slaps
Golden Shower Ale
Dick Hopper IPA
Mixed Ball Bag Cider
Bell End Pale Ale
Pen15 Pilsner

Just to name a few. The list does go on!!


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## Angus (26/4/18)

The Naming of Beer

One of my favourite names was Optometrist Ale (2 glasses and you're a spectacle). It was stupidly high in alcohol.
I brewed a batch of sake once which I labelled Wry Swine - with a logo of two cunning piggies. 
I have grown lazy and generally just put the month number on the lid nowadays, so I know its vintage.


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## byza (9/5/18)

I name mine after local streets / localities then beer style. It might sound a bit lame but I like the personality it gives my brews.


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## philrob (9/5/18)

11 years into homebrewing, and I've run out of ideas for names.
I just use my old names, and put a number after it for it's current batch, for example, Twisted Gut APA 6. 
Yup, it's a name I use, in honour of the M-i-L having twisted bowel surgery at the time I bewed the first batch.
I do like the idea of putting a date on the lid. I've been using my batch numbers to identify my beers.


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## peterlonz (10/5/18)

After many years brewing (40+) I just can't be bothered with names.
Nothing against the idea, but in practice you just run out of tops or labels, & it's just a complication you don't need. After all this is not a marketing exercise right?
I can't even be sure if sometimes I am making progress or not, very hard to score your own beer & even using a log book it gets tricky just trying to determine what were the key differences.
Different malt mixes, different brewing temps, different yeast, different strengths, what could possibly go wrong?
I like to keep myself well grounded & be ready to accept criticism from anyone game enough to try my brews & for myself I try to occasionally try one or more of the better craft brewers beers. Truth is they are hard to match & most of my "volunteers" don't like well hopped beers - bugger!


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## GalBrew (10/5/18)

It’s hard enough these days with a couple of kids to find the time to brew let alone think up of clever names for every beer. I think if that was a requirement of the hobby I would chuck it in, I just don’t see the point. But hey if that’s what floats your boat then who am I to judge?


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## Wolfman1 (23/5/18)

It's one of the best parts in my opinion. 
My brewery is the leaky bidon and all the brews get cycling related themes or if they Coincide with a particularly auspicious event. 
Cobbled stout - bottled while watching Paris roubaix 
The pox porter - brewed when home looking after a kid with chicken pox
Gravel ryder- rye amber ale
Shift down James brown - brown ale

I've started doing a few ciders and this opens a few new avenues.
So far I've had 
Rankout 
Depin

All done in the best possible taste


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## hairydog (24/5/18)

Loved the NEIPA from Bacchus brewing in Brisbane
Dmango Unstrained.


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## GalBrew (24/5/18)

hairydog said:


> Loved the NEIPA from Bacchus brewing in Brisbane
> Dmango Unstrained.



Good name, but commercial breweries use names purely as marketing (which appears to have worked in this case). Who are we marketing our beer to as homebrewers? And also I think it’s a stretch calling your homebrew equipment in the garage/bathroom/kitchen/laundry/back porch a ‘brewery’ and naming said brewery but again hey that’s just me, I’d have trouble doing it with a straight face and my brewing area is quite nice.


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## Rocker1986 (24/5/18)

What else is it if not a brewery? You use it to brew beer don't you? Just because it's not set up like a scale model of a commercial operation doesn't mean it's not a brewery. However, I haven't named mine and I don't often name beers either, they just get called after whatever hops are used for APAs, other ones are just named the style they are.


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## GalBrew (24/5/18)

Rocker1986 said:


> What else is it if not a brewery? You use it to brew beer don't you? Just because it's not set up like a scale model of a commercial operation doesn't mean it's not a brewery. However, I haven't named mine and I don't often name beers either, they just get called after whatever hops are used for APAs, other ones are just named the style they are.



I know it is technically a brewery, but I find it weird when people name their ‘brewery’ and spend more time on beer names and designing bottle labels than on recipe formulation and actual brewing. 

It’s a bit like dressing up in chef whites to cook the latest recipe off Masterchef......or microwave a pie.


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## scomet (24/5/18)

GalBrew said:


> I find it weird when people name their ‘brewery’


As you can see from my avatar I disagree, brewing beer is fun, naming beer is fun, developing new recipes is fun (apart from my last Lemon Sorbet Bia Hoi). The avatar hangs proudly in the Tap Room @ Triumph Brewing, so named after my broken promise of selling the Triumph when I built the brewery. We have a board, chemist, marketing manager (bullshi* bloke) an engineering manager and of course the Chief Brewer - ME!

I believe you can copyright a name but would have to prove ongoing manufacturing etc legal bulltwang or you’d loose it quick, best keep it well hidden. My nephew came up with one when we were making Australian Zombi Dust, my jaw dropped.


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## scomet (24/5/18)

That reminds me there's a pub in the UK owned by two gay guys, they called it The Two Cocks


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## brewgasm (25/5/18)

I just number my beers, I don't label or do anything like that. I might name a particularly special batch. I totally understand why people name their beers and why they might label them, it's your beer, you OWN it! And I don't care if you make your beer in the kitchen, in the shed, a factory unit or wherever. Beer is made in a brewery full stop.


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## Sidney Harbour-Bridge (25/5/18)

Some I did a few years ago for Kris Kringle


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## yankinoz (26/5/18)

Cornwallis Bitter.


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## Talnoy (26/5/18)

At the moment I’m brewing a Berliner with a 5 kilo grain bill, because of the extra power in the beer I call it SIG Sour.


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