" That which we call a rose , by any other name would smell out as sweet " is complete Shakespearian refuse , because a brewery ’s name is essential in the branding of the beer you jazz . Dogfish would n’t be nearly as memorable if it were call Beer Made From Delaware Water Brewing Co. And it would n’t have a story . Since we like beer , and we care stories , we make up one’s mind to calculate out the stories behind your favorite breweries ' names . They couple well with campfires , too .
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
Milton , DELovingly described by the brewery as a " jut of ground off the Maine coast on Southport Island , " it ’s a place wher beginner Sam Calagione expend many a summertime grow up . Now , it reportedly got the foreign name because " when the lobsterman put out their traps near this particular point , they unremarkably ended up with more dogfish ( a low shark ) than lobsters . " Sucks to be them . When Sam ’s Delawarean wife convinced him to move to DE and coiffure up shop , he " desire to bring a composition of New England with him , " so he angle all the dogfish out of the sea and hungrily eat them up . We made that last part up . He moved to Delaware and made some of the beneficial beer in the res publica under that freaky name , duh .
Jester King Brewery
Austin , TXLike the John Olivers of the Shakespearian era , jester king were " wise fools capable to poke fun at authority , " according toBooksAndBeverages.org . Nowadays , JK does all the poking to the " big brewer of the world " every time it key out one of its astral beer something unpronounceable like Atrial Rubicite .
Budweiser
St. Louis , MOThe favorite beer of commercial anuran everywhere , Budweiser was not named after its founder , like to much of its beer competition at the time.Beeriety.com notesthat Budweiser founder Adolphus Busch ( lots of fashion plate named Adolph back then ) began vend his beer in 1876 , and " make up one’s mind to name it after the town he got the formula from , Budweis . " The commercial with the frogs happened many year afterwards .
Allagash Brewing Co.
Portland , MERob Tod , laminitis of one of Portland , ME ’s finest breweries , did n’t seem to put a whole passel of opinion into discover the Belgian - elan beermaker . " Allagash is a region in Northwest Maine , " Tod say . " I ’m fearsome at thinking up names . So I excrete the chore onto my crony . One pal told me to call it Allagash Brewing because ' you drop a crowd of sentence up there ' , " he secern our palThe Beer Wench . So next time you have a huge conclusion to make , force one of your friends to make it for you ! Worked for Tod .
Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery
Goochland , VAThe brewerya very smart and fine-looking web site make the most underrated in VA , Lickinghole Creek ’s " name pays homage to the small-scale brook lead through the property , " according toBrews Travelers 365 . Further , the beer - focalise internet site says that way back in pre - Colonial times , wildlife would block off by for a beverage . It was like theCheersbar of Virginia , except for it had more deer and it was key with dead no awareness of how it would vocalize to others in the age of " that ’s what she enunciate . "
Clown Shoes Beer
Ipswich , MAThe way the brewery stick the name is " a very foresightful account . " Sorry , that ’s all we got ! Kidding , kidding . Founder Gregg Berman wrote , " a group of us submit the name to [ a ] Beer Advocate contest … our submission did n’t crack the top 5 . " Berman did n’t take the rejection lie down , and figured he ’d make his own , not retrieve it would become a nationally beloved brand . Especially not one with fantastic art .
The Bruery
Placentia , CAKnowing the backstory of the Orange County brewery ’s name stool it seem way more canny than you previously thought . It ’s obvious if you cognize the founder ’s name , but we ’re guessing you do n’t . It ’s Patrick Rue . Not bad , eh ?
3 Floyds Brewing Co.
Munster , INConsidering the brewery ’s obsession with metal , we would ’ve put money on 3 Floyds being a bonus track from … And Justice for All . But the brewery is namedfor a completely wearisome reason , according toUSA Today : the three owners ( two brothers and a father ) are all member of the Floyd family . And this concludes the only thing disappointing about anything relate to 3 Floyds .
Half Acre Beer Co.
Chicago , ILGabriel Magliaro , the father of Half Acre , toldBreweryTourist.netthat there ’s a town near where he get up called Devil ’s Half - Acre , PA . On that little sliver of land is a bar make in the 1800s . elbow room back when , it was " illegally tend , " and was given the devil ’s name " because some serviceman would delay too long , drink too much , and fight would break dance out . unavoidably some gentleman would be killed and buried on that same Half Acre of soil . " Creepy . Magliaro says that while the " half acre " part was used to name his Chicago brewery , he " supposes [ the devil ] ’s here too . " Double creepy .
SweetWater Brewing Co.
Atlanta , GATwo college roommates from the University of Colorado at Boulder decided to open up a brewery in Atlanta , and took fault from the brewery ’s buildout by kayak down Sweetwater Creek . If you lie with anything about people who have spend any amount of prison term in Boulder , CO , that kayaking business will not storm you . Nor will the brand ’s obsession with 420 ( as in , its 420 Fest and 420 Extra Pale Ale ) .
Toppling Goliath Brewing Co.
Decorah , IAWhile it might seem like the name refers to the " David - vs.-Goliath struggle of small brewer to knock off the crowing guys , " asan interviewer at Madison.com found , it ’s not . It ’s merely the laminitis Clark Lewey ’s thought of a " footling guy dealing with big bureaucratism . " Lewey used the TG name on another line of work that mostly failed , and it hold open him money on " corporate paperwork " by calling his upstart brewery the same matter .
Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project
Denver , CODenver ’s reigning morose kings feel a name that references the barrel from which its luscious beer is swarm . The Denver Postnotes that founder Chad Yakobson " was disembowel to the difficult artistic production and scientific discipline of barrel - aging , " and named his brewery after staves , aka the wooden slats of barrels , " which get crooked and leak out as they dry out . "
Founders Brewing Co.
Grand Rapids , MIThe Grand Rapids beermaker founded ( ! ! ) by two college friends straight up ripped it off from " an previous fatal & white photo they used for label art , " according to our10 thing you did n’t know about Founders . Before that , the brewery was know as Canal St. , which was formerly a district of Grand Rapids where brewery were send in the 1800s . Speaking of Founders , anyone make a feeding bottle of KBS they desire to give us ? Anyone ?
Wicked Weed Brewing
Asheville , NCThe good people atCraftBeer.comwrite that the sour - eff NC brewery is " named after a quote from the Billie Jean King that declared hop a ' wicked and insidious weed ' fate to ruin beer . “Some would argue that it already did .
Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales
Dexter , MIStrangely enough , Jolly Pumpkin did n’t even brew a pumpkin beer for class . Brewer Ron Jeffriessaid that he and his wifebrainstormed a bunch of epithet on a springlike March day , and then weeks later it was the one that stuck the most . And sure enough , the man loves many things the words Jolly Pumpkin might bid up for you , like Halloween , literary pirate costume , and the tropic . certainly enough , his soubriquet are also perfect for a guy rope who would name a brewery Jolly Pumpkin : Brewmaster Spooky and Captain Ron . By that logic , Kurt Russell should also open a brewery name Jolly Pumpkin .
Breakside Brewery
Portland , ORThe guys and gal behind craft brewery lean to be a fairly nerdy gang , but according to our booster atThe New School , Portland ’s fantastic Breakside was list after " an Ultimate Frisbee full term that means ' going against the rate of flow or military unit ' " – a name take that nerdery to a whole young level . admiration why no one has open a brewery called " hock to Rook 4 " yet .
Cigar City Brewing
Tampa , FLIf you populate in Florida , the story behind the Hunahpu - producing brewery ’s name is potential no surprise , as it ’s a byname for the metropolis they ’re based in : Tampa . Now that that ’s out of the agency , can anyone get us some Hunahpu ? I know earlier we ask for KBS , but we truly need both beers to feel whole again .
Brewery Ommegang
Cooperstown , NYThe Belgian beer experts in Cooperstown not surprisingly take their name from something appropriately Belgian - y , articulate in an interview withPlayCo.orgthat Ommegang literally mean " to walk about " in Flemish , and that they ’re named aftera mediaeval festival that reenacts a performance from the 1500s . This might actually be a nerdier reference than Breakside ’s Ultimate Frisbee thing .
Anchor Brewing Co.
San Francisco , CANo one knows ! Well , two people know , but they ’re extremely bushed at this point , since the original German beer maker and his son - in - legal philosophy were the ones who bought an SF brewery in 1896 and renamed it Anchor . The brewery say , " no one knows why [ the beginner ] choose the name Anchor , except , perhaps , for its indirect but potent allusion to the roaring Port of San Francisco . " If we were attorney , we ’d object with something like , " thoroughgoing supposition ! " to those claims and just go away it at " boats . "
Flying Dog Brewery
Frederick , MDThe explanation for the Maryland - based brewery ’s name is about as whacky as you ’d expect from a beermaker associated with Hunter S. Thompson ’s throw out of kilter cohort , Ralph Steadman . Asthe brewery severalize it , one of Flying Dog ’s father , George Stranahan , just wind up a dangerous hike in Pakistan when they were have a celebratory drink back at the hotel . It was there that they say was a " full - on petroleum painting of a dog . A beautiful oil house painting , big , nice . And the dog was like … well , he had leave alone the ground . " Stranahan tell the two words fit together for him . right enough for us , George .
Left Hand Brewing Co.
Longmont , COFun fact : Colorado ’s nitro - obsessed brewery ’s co - founders met in the ' 80 as cadets in the US Air Force Academy . According to BYO.com , a decennary later , they lived in Niwot , a tiny CO town named after Chief Niwot . Niwot translates to " left paw , " and there you have it . Confusingly , Left Hand Brewing is based in Longmont , a town name we care to think translates to " Home of Left Hand Brewing . "
Smuttynose Brewing Co.
Hampton , NHOh boy , another of those , " its origins have been lost to prison term " explanations . No one ’s certain why Smuttynose Island , whichthe brewery was cite after , has such a weirdly sexy name . We do live that it ’s " the third expectant of the nine islands that take shape the Isle of Shoals " an archipelago off the NH slide . And , oh yeah , a notorious double axe murder happened there in the 1870s . Half Acre and Smuttynose are now tied for creepiest brewery name in America .
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Dogfish Head Beer
Allagash Brewing Company
The Bruery
SweetWater Brewing Company
Founders Taproom
Breakside Brewery
Anchor Brewing Company
