Beer Names Range from Descriptive to Offensive

With tens of thousands of beers being produced every year by thousands of breweries around the world, there is likely to be some very interesting names for those beers. Some breweries lean towards naming beers for local landmarks, the style of beer or heroes. An example of a beer named for a landmark is Intuition Ale Works’ Silvertown, named for an area of Jacksonville, Florida’s Riverside neighborhood that was set aside for African Americans. SweetWater Brewing Company of Atlanta, Ga. is an example of a brewer that has named a beer after its style; the company’s core hoppy beer is named simply SweetWater IPA. And Pliny the Elder by the Russian River Brewing Company is named for the ancient Roman botanist that is said to have discovered hops.

But, often the names of new brews skew towards the humorous. Names of beers go from the mildly amusing to the outrageous, and in some cases, downright offensive. Beervana, a beer blog based in Portland, Ore., published an article last week vilifying a beer named Mouth Raper IPA; definitely an example of taking a concept too far. But, other names are not nearly as shocking. Some favorites include:

• Buttface Amber Ale
• Moose Drool
• Old Leghumper
• Tactical Nuclear Penguin
• 668 the Neighbor of the Beast

To illustrate the ridiculousness of some beer names, a YouTube clip has emerged from a production company amusingly named Nacho Punch. The clip pokes fun at hipsters, beer names and the practice of serving certain beers in specific types of glassware.

No matter what your opinion, without a doubt the same creativity that goes into brewing beer goes into naming it. So, the next time you pour yourself a Clown Shoes Tramp Stamp, reflect on the originality that went into naming it. Or, on second thought, just shake your head and enjoy the beer.