All the good names have been taken
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So much beer, so little liver.
You may have noticed a trend to give strange names to beer. (Wines, too.)
For example:
Arrogant Bastard Ale,
Great Big Kentucky Sausage Fest Imperial Brown Ale,
Sexual Chocolate Imperial Stout,
Bitzkreig Hops Double IPA.
Does this help sell beer? Maybe the first purchase. I wanted to buy a six-pack and I saw Space Station Middle Finger. I like science fiction. It sounded like fun.
The carton said: “From the dawn of time, humans have looked to the sky for answers. Space Station Middle Finger replies to all from its eternal orbit. Behold and enjoy Space Station Middle Finger, a bright golden American Pale Ale.”
So I bought it, and it was a fine brew with a citrus-like tang, not as highly hopped as some American pale ales, and overall very satisfying. As I drank, I admired the artwork on the label, which could have appeared in an episode of Red Dwarf, and that was a pleasant thought.
Tasters at Beer Advocate also had a good opinion of the ale.
Would I buy it again? Sure. But wandering through a beer aisle or perusing a display cooler yields no shortage of tempting fermented adventures. A brand has to find a way to stand out. A strange name helps, I guess, but what happens when all the strange names are taken?
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Can the good names all be taken? I suspect that the supply is limited only by our ability to create metaphors and, so far, that seems still to be going strong. I read and loved a book recently that transported some very human problems in group interaction to a planet where the 'others' were plants. With that sort of imagination about, I can't actually get too worried about a dearth of inventiveness.
Thank you! I had a lot of fun writing the book, and I'm thrilled that other people have enjoyed it, too.And you're right, inventiveness never ceases. The Earth is a wonderful place to live for that reason alone.
