Beers without nicknames

I agree. And while I appreciate that some beers are between or beyond style definitions, if your single hop pale ale has a name with 6 words and 2 puns, what's going on?

 

Worth remembering that "Bitter" is itself a nickname,being what the drinkers in the pubs called Pale Ale.

 

It's like naming a pet snake. It isn't necessary, and all you really care about is if it is a snake (beer) that is a good snake (beer). At the end of the day I know my snake isn't going to come when I call its name, and my beer's fancy name has no relation to its quality.

 

I look at names as a way to differentiate your beers when you (or another brewery) decide to make something similar. That's especially the case with IPA's and such where a brewery might make a dozen or more. I couldn't really care less as a consumer, but if I were a brewery brand manager you'd better believe I'd name my stuff and defend it to the death.

 

A clever name will get me to make an impulse purchase for sure, but the quality of beer really dictates what I buy moving forward, as opposed to a forgettable one-off with a clever name.

 

I don't see much issue here, as I would say "Amber" is still an overarching description of the beer. The color gives you a fairly good idea of general flavor, even if there are malty and hoppy amber ales.

For example, BJCP's style guides list Altbier (along with Vienna Lager and Kellerbier) under the broader category of "Amber Bitter European beer"

 

You learn something new every day!

I would have thought "Brand Name" would be the name of the beer, not what I would in layman's terms call the brewery name. But I guess that only makes sense when you think about it from a small brewery perspective when companies typically only have one "brand." But I guess that's the difference between Sierra Nevada which just uses that name vs. Boston Beer Company which uses Samuel Adams.

Which made me curious about a beer like Budweiser, and looks like they simply leave the "Fanciful Name" field blank.

 

On the other side of the spectrum, Magic Hat would have something like " mysterious dark beer" with no hint or style clue. Guess what? I refuse to buy a beer if I can't get at least a basic description of the beer from the label. Really not that hard.

 

One of my favorite local breweries, Zero Gravity, has a long standing IPA named TLA. I asked once, what the acronym stood for. Stonefaced, the brewer responded, "Three Letter Acronym".

 

^This. I don't care what the beer tastes like I'll never buy it based on the packaging.