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Naming your brews

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chiguire

NewBee
Registered Member
Jan 27, 2010
303
0
0
Katy, TX
On the morning bike ride commute, I was pondering how I go about naming brews, and how others might approach it.

It seems like there are a lot of naming styles; some go for the play on words, others try to conjure images from the past, while others may be more straight forward and direct. What is your style?
 
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AToE

NewBee
Registered Member
Jun 8, 2009
4,066
3
0
Calgary AB Canada
I just name them what they are usually, so pretty much un-named! I'm just absolutely terrible at naming them, and unless it's a recipe I think is going to be a repeat I don't bother naming it.
 

wildoates

NewBee
Registered Member
Mar 22, 2009
2,373
4
0
Elk Grove, CA
Most of them are named after the cats in one way or another, but the cyser was named for my late MiL, who died the week we started it.

Some aren't even named because I'm not as clever as Wayne is. :D
 

mkshfr

NewBee
Registered Member
Feb 21, 2011
60
0
0
my way

I usually name my brews from something random I see... I made a hoppy beer with my brother on Easter last year and called it Hoppy Easter... another time we saw a ferrett run across the back yard and named our beer ... wild ferrett ale...its fun to name them from random things
 

epetkus

NewBee
Registered Member
Jan 1, 2009
378
2
0
Florida
I normally don't name them, but rather "describe" them.

However, with the Mazer cup entries, there is a name field, so I just winged it with things similar to what was made.

Eric
 

TheAlchemist

I am Meadlemania
GotMead Patron
Sep 9, 2010
2,464
8
0
near a lake
I love naming my brews...and I've only done two so far

Pumpkin Pie
and
Betelgeuse

Spontaneous Inspiration!
Maybe that will be the name of a future brew...
 

akueck

Certified Mead Mentor
Certified Mead Mentor
Jun 26, 2006
4,958
11
0
Ithaca, NY
My creativity (such as it is) is spent on things besides naming, so I also go the "describe it" route: Pale Ale, Cacao Mead, etc. I really should start naming these things, but I'll need a "brand consultant" to help out.
 

Golddiggie

NewBee
Registered Member
Nov 22, 2010
472
0
0
Nashua, NH (USA)
photo.golddiggie.com
I usually play either on what they are, or what they remind me of...

Such as my first brew, a honey porter, which no light could penetrate, or be seen entering, was called "Black Hole Sun"... Had a nice warming effect to it, hence the 'Sun' aspect...

My first barleywine (an accidental one at that) is called "Sweet Oblivion" since it's 9.7% and a bit on the sweet side...

My first old ale, is really smooth, and only about 8.1% ABV, so it's named "Dirty Old Man"...

My ESB, where my mash was F'd up and I didn't hit my target OG, and had more bitterness early on (when first tasting it) got the name "Hoppy Accident"... :D

The brew that's almost two weeks in primary, which is a Strong Scotch Ale, with honey malt, has a working name of "Honey Scotch"... I know, not very creative, but a bit of a word play... I might change the name on that one before it's in bottles too long (before they get labled at the very least)...

Brewing a cream ale tomorrow that is getting some honey malt added (~7% of the grain bill), with no real special name yet... Will see how that one comes out... It will be on the strong side, probably at least 6% ABV...

I still have my Mocha Madness mead still in process...

I do need to work on coming up with better names for things... We'll see how things progress...
 

Chevette Girl

All around BAD EXAMPLE
Moderator
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Apr 27, 2010
8,443
53
48
Ottawa, ON
I put all my creativity into coming up with my recipes, so I tend to go for descriptive names rather than creative names... that way when I dig a bottle of something out of the cellar 3 years later, I don't have to look it up in the brewlog to find out what the heck I'm drinking :)
 
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TDMooney

NewBee
Registered Member
Jan 2, 2011
188
0
0
Elkridge, Maryland
I put all my creativity into coming up with my recipes, so I tend to go for descriptive names rather than creative names... that way when I dig a bottle of something out of the cellar 3 years later, I don't have to look it up in the brewlog to find out what the heck I'm drinking :)

Agreed, I might tweek it a little but for the most part the name is just the major ingredients I used
 

BBBF

Worker Bee
Registered Member
May 19, 2008
587
3
18
44
Chicago, Land of Corruption
I give my meads generic names until I send them into a competition. So most of them are labeled Strawberry '09, Appricot/Raspberry '10, etc.

I have a chaulkboard on my keggerator, so I try to me a little more creative. A play on words for the style or ingredients is my first goal.

Next would be to mention something that happened during the brew day. For example, I justed kegged my Snow Day Irish Red. I have no idea what I'll do if I like this recepie and make it again when I'm not in the middle of a blizzard.

And if all else fails, I just go with the generic description of what it is. Kentucky Common, Gluten Free IPA, etc.
 

Chevette Girl

All around BAD EXAMPLE
Moderator
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Apr 27, 2010
8,443
53
48
Ottawa, ON
I'm boring. I just number mine.

I really should start tagging batches with a number too... would prevent such problems as I had last year when I went flipping through my log book to figure out what I'd just bottled and discovered that it was "already" bottled... so I've got two blueberry second run mels bottled the same year (different month) that both show the same start date on their labels :p I have at least started listing the date on the name tags now (I use leftover lick-and-stick wine labels that came with a kit to label my carboys, saves me the problem of what happens when the cardboard tags I used to attach to the airlock fall off :rolleyes:)
 

gray

NewBee
Registered Member
Feb 4, 2011
68
0
0
Seattle, WA
I really should start tagging batches with a number too...

Each batch I do actually gets two numbers. I do an "Overall Brew Number" and a "Brew Batch Number". The first represents a unique recipe and the second is used to identify each batch of that recipe. So the second batch of my third brew recipe gets a "3 - 2 ". Any more information than that and I have to go back to my log. I do include a "Name" field in my log book just in case, but I haven't used it yet.
 

M63Ural

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 22, 2010
28
1
0
Rapid City SD
My best named brew came from and accident and experimenting with adding honey to ale. I made 3 batches at the same time. The honey ale was batch 2 the first batch got plain caps, batch 2 got 1 stripe from the perm marker, batch 3 got 2 stripes ( usually the ale did not sit around long enough to need identification) I was shopping at the brewstore and was going to make my fav extract red ale, bought dry malt extract (on sale im cheap) didnt even think that the recipie was for syrup. Then added about 3lbs of honey to try a honey ale a 5 gal batch. It ended up about 7.5%, smooth, very tasty and kicka$$. We called it 1 Stripe Ale. I still make it. I always wanted to make lables for it, never have gotten around to it. Dad suggested a muscular arm holding a beer with a green short sleeve and private stripe, and a Airborne tattoo. He said he would have liked it when on R&R. (I was born at Ft Brag)

Jim
 
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