American craft beer names vary wildly from the straightforward to the outlandish and naming a new beer requires months, if not years, of brainstorming, creativity and due diligence.
With so many different labels to choose from creating a brand that stands out from the crowd and looks good on shelf is increasingly important. Brewers utilise a number of naming strategies such as:
- Descriptive words (903 Brewers: White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cheesecake Slushy)
- Experiential words (Athletic Brewing Co: Run Wild IPA)
- Wordplay/beer puns (Destihl Brewery: Counter Clockweisse Berliner weisse)
- Topical words or phrases (Heretic Brewing Co: Make American Juicy Again IPA)
- Alliteration (Paradox Pilsner)
- Arbitrary words (Urban Artifact: Spyglass fruit beer)
- Made-up words (Reuben’s Brews: Hazealicious IPA)
- Music-related/lyrics of a song (Heavy Riff Brewing Co: Bohemian Rhaspberry sour)
- Culture related/Classical literature (Virginia Beer Co: I Pray You Remember the Porter! Imperial Porter)
- The straightforward ‘does what it says on the tin’ approach (Upslope Brewing Co: Craft Lager)
Some American craft brewers like to adopt the same creative, envelope-pushing criteria to their beer names as they do when developing the beer itself. Even the most obscure beer names have found their way into the national psyche, eg:
- Cigar City Brewing Co: J’ai Alai IPA (pronounced hi-a-lie’) is named after a fast and furious game native to the Basque region of Spain, but it is difficult to say and spell. Such factors have not prevented it from become a much-loved classic around the world
- Sierra Nevada Brewing Co: Narwhal Bourbon Barrel-Aged Stout is named after a mysterious creature from the depths of the Arctic Ocean
- Alesmith Brewing Co: .394 San Diego Pale Ale pays tribute to baseball legend Tony Gwynn’s city that he loved and his career high batting average
Other breweries employ a theme that runs throughout their name choice such as DC Brau from Washington, DC who harness political connotations to name their beers such as Joint Resolution IPA or In Session IPA.
However, not all beer names need to be bold to be beautiful. The beer that pioneered the American craft beer movement around the world with its aromatic and full-flavoured Cascade hop character is the simply named Sierra Nevada Pale Ale!
American craft beer is available through national wholesalers or on line from Athletic Brewing, or the Cascade Club Chefs and restauranteurs are invited to make use of the free resources available on www.brewersassociation.org or www.craftbeer.com