The Best Beer Names of All Time

Our last blog post looked at the most controversial beer names of all time. A great article sure but we have probably had enough negativity this year so instead of just focusing on the negatives we are going to even things up this week by looking and some of the more creative, entertaining, attention-grabbing and humorous beer names to have been released. From references to movies, puns, those from deep left filed and more we chose a few of our favourites to take a closer look at!

REFERENCES TO MOVIES/TV SHOWS

Get Your Ass to Mars - Bonehead Brewing

This is the beer that got me thinking about other great beer names that ultimately lead to this blog post. (Thanks Bonehead Brewing!) It's double red IPA that manages to hit the ultimate beer trifecta in my books. A killer name, label & beer! 'Get Your Ass to Mars' is a line spoken by Arnie in the 1990 flick Total Recall. You can check out the 10 hour looped version of Arnie repeating that line on Youtube, or you could use that time to track down and enjoy this brew, which would be a far, far, better use of your time.

You’re My Boy, Blue! - Blue Bus Brewing

I included this beer really only because its name comes from a line spoken by Will Ferrel from what I think is one of his best roles as ‘Frank the Tank’ in the noughties dude comedy Old School. The beer itself, a Blueberry Wheat Ale, is probably best enjoyed whilst watching Will Ferrel’s back catalogue of films just do yourself a favour and give Semi-Pro a miss.

Stupid Sexy Flanders - Various

Sometimes in life, you get lucky. The kind of luck where the most popular cartoon of all time has a character who shares a name with a famous beer region and beer style. It’s no wonder then, that a number of breweries have released a Ned Flanders referenced beer. One of those is from Young Henrys who named their Flanders Red Ale ‘Stupid Sexy Flanders’. Around 300 kilograms of freshly squeezed cherry juice was added to a red malt base and Flanders yeast to create a beer far superior to Duff.

Yippee-Ki-Yay Melon Farmer - Trail Point Brewing Company

An infamous, and oft-quoted line by Bruce Willis in the film Die Hard (“Yippee Ki-Ya Motherf*cker”) is the inspiration for this watermelon fruited shandy from Michigan based Trail Point Brewing Company. Research for this article led me to discover that the term Yippe-ki-ay most likely comes from a play on the phrase “yippie yi yo kayah,” from a 1930s Bing Crosby song, “I’m an Old Cowhand.” I have no evidence to suggest he would, but I’d like to think Bing would have been a big fan of this beer and Bruce Willis action films.

It Puts the Cucumber On Its Skin or It Gets the Gose Again - 7venth Sun

So many opportunities are opened to brewery marketing departments when a Gose is brewed. "Gose your own way"/ "Goes hard or Go Home" (you get the idea). 7venth Sun went a step further than most however with their beer name taken from a line in ‘Silence of the Lambs, (It puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again). And while the name might be clever this would also have to be in the running for creepiest beer label ever.

REFERENCES TO PEOPLE/CHARACTERS

Magnificent Mullet Series- Moon Dog Brewery

There are many, many beers named after personalities. Some are better suited to be put on a label than others (check out last week's blog here for a couple of fails). Melbourne Brewers Moon Dog have definitely chosen well in naming a whole range of their sour beers after pop culture icons. The inventive angle that Moon Dog took was to choose famous mulleted (is that a word?) personalities. The cans feature their respective mullets ontop of fruit with the range including such gems as:

Macguava

Melon Gibson/Melon DeGeneres

Billy Ray Citrus

Jean Strawb Van-Damme

Audrey Hopburn - Great Lakes Brewery

Audrey Hepburn needs to introduction. Hop burn, on the other hand, might. Hop burn an overly grassy/ vegetable or ‘greenness’ in a beer (typically a hazy IPA/NEIPA). It is an undesirable trait in beer but I’m assuming for Great Lakes Brewery the temptation to make the pun overrode any associations they feared people would make with their IPA. It makes my list at least so I’m sure that alone vindicates their decision.

Smells Like A Safety Meeting IPA - Dark Horse Brewing

This IPA apparently has a very ‘dank’ smell reminiscent of cannabis and so Dark Horse Brewing had tried to name this beer ‘Smells like Weed.’ They failed to get approval from the authorities however and so their solution was to rename the beer to 'Smells like a Safety Meeting'. ‘Safety Meeting’ being a slang term meaning taking a break on the job to light up a joint which I’m sure some of you knew already.

THE PUNNY

Pathological Lager - Dock Street. Brewing Co.

Dock St. Brewing Co. out of Philadelphia, don't away from their political feelings. This beer was part of their “Friends Don’t Let Friends Vote Drumpf” series and is actually an ale (a fruited Saison) but is called “Pathological Lager” because, “it seems, the truth really doesn’t matter.” I would normally suggest breweries should stay out of politics but in this case, I'll make an exception.

668: The Neighbor of the Beast- New England Brewing

The name of the quintessential Belgian blonde ale brand, Duvel, translates to English as Devil. Honouring this connection, many beers around the world brewed in this style have a name referencing the devil or hell. With 666 being the biblical ‘number of the beast’ Eric from New England Brewing mentioned in their brainstorming session for potential beer names that ‘if you lived next door to Satan, your mailing address would be 668’ and the rest, as they say, is history.

Citra-Ass Down - Cold Water Brewery

This IPA heroing the Citra hop is bizzarely advertised on Cold Water Brewery’s website with the sentence “This beer is not candy or mother’s milk. It is not brewed by gypsies or aliens, nor does it contain any zombie dirt...” okay...ummm Cold Water did you take anything before you decided to write that? It was most likely conceived in the same meeting that the label was designed in because I also have no idea what is meant to be going on there.

THE 'OUT THERE'

F*ck de kerstboom staat in de fik (F*ck the Christmas Tree is on Fire)

& Flaming Ass Owl - Het Uiltje (the small Owl)

This festive Imperial Coffee Pastry Stout & Imperial Chilli Porter respectively are brewed by Dutch Brewery Het Ulitje. I'd like to think they were both named after an event experienced by the brewers (perhaps the Christmas tree was lit by a flaming ass?) I mean we are talking about the Dutch here so really anything is possible.

Tactical Nuclear Penguin - Brew Dog

This 32% Brew Dog ‘uber’ imperial stout, was a one time holder of the record for the world’s strongest beer. The name refers to the beer being exposed to freezing or ‘penguin’ temperatures which allow them to extract frozen water from the brew leaving behind a more concentrated and stronger beer.

The Great, Big Kentucky Sausage Fest - Amager Bryghus & Against the Grain Brewery

This name was born out of the events on the day that Danish Brewers Amager Bryghus arrived at Against the Grain Brewery in Kentucky to brew a collab brown ale. Hotdogs were served for lunch and naturally, competitive spirits emerged between the two nations and so an informal hotdog eating contest was had. This hoppy Imperial brown ale honours that day and is designed to be had with meaty, spicy, smokey foods (especially hotdogs).

OTHER NOTABLE BEERS

Geriatric Hipster Club - The Bruery

Whiskey Dick Cantwell. Hey Matt, Where's my F*cking Pumpkin Beer? Schooner Exact Brewing

Hoof Hearted Brewery

Technically a Brewery and not a beer but my very juvenile side couldn’t leave it out. (Try saying it out loud a few times if it’s not making sense…)

Think we’ve forgotten a great named beer? Let us know which one's we've missed!