If you get bored reading about our naming dilemma, at least make sure to make it to the end of the post so you can take the poll.
I had hoped that the perfect name would have fallen out of the sky and hit me in the face by now. Or that I would have let go and worked on other stuff and not still be worried about the name. But it’s become the main focus of this entire operation. I’m blaming my business plan slacking on the namelessness of the brewery. There, I said it. Responsibility shirked. Blame the muse of naming things. She doesn’t actually have a name. Ironic.
We’ve sort of narrowed down the theme of the name. That’s not true. We’ve sort of boiled down the entire naming conventions of breweries into a few themes, and haven’t gone past that. Narrowing entails removing choices. Boiling just condenses them.
The main themes of a brewery name, according to my non-statistical analysis of the 2007 list of breweries in operation with no follow up research as to the origins of the names:
- Adjective / Adverb + Animal
- Example: Flying Dog, Lost Duck, Blind Tiger, Gilded Otter, Angry Minnow
- Somewhat to entirely random words with meaning to the owner(s) OR very much inside reference
- Dogfish Head, Magic Hat, Ballast Point, Left Hand
- Geography / Geology Related
- Boston Beer Company, Snake River, Deschutes, Breckenridge Brewery
- Name of the founder
- Coors.
Most brewery names fall into these categories. I’m sure there are exceptions. I’d love to be one, but I created some pretty broad categories there. Here are some of our ideas in each category.
The animal references are fun: Malicious Marmot, Sophisticated Wombat, Peeping Tomcat, Bald Grizzly.
Inside reference / makes sense to us / random: Eagle Bear (yes, it’s animals, but it’s special), Mad Haven, Bibber Bibbery.
Geography / Geology related: Savage Peaks, Mile High Hop Works.
We’re not naming the brewery after ourselves, or at least not directly, so that last option is out.
One theme we’ve been playing with is the American Dream idea. Sort of a fun look at the modern American Dream, with some great options for beer names. Golden Retriever Brown Ale anyone? White Picket White Ale? It’s endless.
Another theme we’ve been playing around with is something about a storyteller. A bard, if you will. Some wandering minstrel who travels on foot from tavern to tavern, telling tall tales and listening intently to stories of other travelers, always with a large flagon of mead (or mug of ale, whatever you like) strapped to his one hand, the other gesticulating wildly and he spins his yarn further and farther. Something like the Traveling Bard, Afflicted Minstrel, Fibbing Bibber, Sipping Goose’s Grim Tale Sharing Bench – you get the idea.
We really just need to choose a name. But as I’ve said before, it’s like a tattoo to me. It’s permanent. It has to be perfect. And.. well this just gets into personal aspects of who I am, but I’m not so great at settling.
What are you thoughts? If you’re reading this, you’re either going to have a hand in the brewery, be one of our many loyal customers, or at least, hopefully, tell a friend about the operation for their upcoming visit to Denver. Take the poll, leave a comment, do both! Just let us know what you think, and hopefully we’ll make up our minds soon. That will be a super exciting post to write!
Starting a Brewery 