SheppyBrew Beer Names

So ... one of my favorite homebrew podcasts is the The Brülosophy Podcast.

One of their recent episodes ... Episode 232 | exBEERience: Naming Beers ... got me thinking about how I go about naming beers.

Apparently, not all homebrewers name all their beers, but I certainly do. Some of these names only make sense to me, but they all have at least some thought put them.

So ... what are some of the themes in my beer names?

Sports teams

Lots of my beers are named for my favorite sports teams ... lead, of course, by the Chicago Blackhawks.

Blackhawk Black Ale is pretty obvious. Tommy Hawk APA is named after the Blackhawks' mascot. Chelsea Dagger Pre-Prohibition Lager celebrates the Blackhawks with the song that plays after each of their goals. 

I've also celebrated the Cubs' world series with Cubs Win! Munich Dunkel. And the Colorado Rockies making it to the world series with Rocktoberfest Lager.

I even named a beer based on my hatred of a football team: Pats Disliker New England Pale Ale.

Family Names

Another (even bigger) naming theme are beers named after myself or family members.

The first and most obvious is Eric's Red Ale. I also have Eric's Pale Ale, Eric's Red Failure, Eric The Awful Red Ale, and Irregular Eric Double IPA. Don't forget McShepardSons Irish Ale.

I have beers name after my wife: Buckwheat's Belgium Pale Ale, Whisky Wife Wit, Whacko Wife Pumpkin Witbier, N.T.S. Faux Pilsner, and She Who Must Be Obeyed Wheat.

There is a beer named after my sister: Bluefield Chocolate Ale. I have a beer named after my mother-in-law: Wetta Blonde Ale. My brother-in-law, Dave has Galena Dave's Pale Lager named after him. 

And obviously ... the various T.Ra.Sh. Beers are named for the T.Ra.Sh. family. (T.Ra.Sh. Mexican Lager, T.Ra.Sh. Light Mexican Lager, T.Ra.Sh. Light Lime Mexican Lager)

T.V. / Movie References

I have quite a few beers named after movie or T.V. characters, scenes, or lines.

Ello Poppet Czech Pilsner, Scallywag Czech Dark Lager, and Tortuga Golden Ale come from the Pirates of the Caribbean series of movies. 

Sasquatch Hunter German Altbier actually came from a T.V. series called "Finding Bigfoot".

Will-o'-Wisp Pumpkin Ale and Mor'du Scottish Ale came from the Disney movie "Brave".

Brother Bear Dopplebock came from "Brother Bear". Khazad-dûm Black Lager came from Fellowship of the Rings. Jolly Morlock Brown Porter came from "The Time Machine". Oompa Loompa Mango Pale Ale came from "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory".

#WeAreGroot is pretty obvious.

Puns

I'm not great at puns, and none of mine are all that clever. Most of them have to do with "Helles" (Helles in a Hand Bock-sket, Snowball's Chance (in) Helles, and What the Helles Dortmunder)

My wife came up with the punny name Where'd My ManGo Wheat.

I wish I was better at coming up with beer names that were great puns. I'm just not that smart to come up with them.

Google Translate

I have some beer names that came about from Google Translate. 

The name Cinco de Bealtaine Irish Stout was an amusing (probably only to me) way to make Cinco De Mayo an Irish name. If google translator is telling me the truth, Bealtaine is irish gaelic for May.

Schreck Gartenzwerg Pilsner came from typing "Frightening" and "Gnome" into the Google Translate. (Fright Garden Gnome).

The Dearg in Dearg Irish Red means "Red" in "Irish" in the Google translator.

Sin Lima Mexican Lager came from typing "Without" and "Lime" into the translator.

Biking

I have a few beer names that came to me as a result of all the biking I've been doing over that past couple years.

Pomegranate Biker Radler, 1000 Mile Mild, and On Your Left are those beer names.

When I started typing out this section, I thought there would be more, but either I was mistaken or I'm just not seeing them right now.

Commercial Beer Variations

The last big theme in my beer names that I'll mention are names based on commercial beers that inspired me.

Phat & Tyred Amber Ale and Fat and Stoopid Amber Ale were both inspired by the New Belgium Beer "Fat Tire".

Pompously Illegitimate Red Ale, Cheap Bastard American Mild Ale, and Psychotically Dark and Bitter IDA were all inspired by Stone's Arrogant Bastard.

The beer and name Near-Sighted Swine IPA came from Blind Pig.

Popcorn Barley Rye came from (of course) PBR.

Wild Cow (sort of) Kölsch is a tribute to New Glarus's Spotted Cow.

Colorado Strong IPA, Colorado Strong Pale Ale, and Resilience IPA Clone(ish) were based on recipes of charity collaborations of the same names.

Honestly, I could probably go on and on. I have so many beers on this site.

Take a look through "Our Beer Recipes" on the SheppyBrew Website, and you'll see tons more beers out there. Every one of those beer names has some sort of story ... although some of the stories are pretty boring.

If you're interested in understanding any of those beer names, check our the recipe page linked there. If you need more information, feel free to leave a comment or message me on twitter, instagram, or facebook.

Stay tuned ...

Go Avalanche!