What’s in a name? The evolution of what we call our favorite beers

Shakespeare once asked, “What’s in a name?” The people, places and things in our lives all have names, but how and why those names are chosen is constantly evolving. For instance, you won’t find any ‘stewardesses’ on any flights to Bombay (now Mumbai), sports stadiums are now named after insurance conglomerates, and no one has a friend with a little baby named ‘Larry.’

This phenomenon can also be found in the beer we drink. Not that long ago, when you stared into the cooler, all you saw were bottles labeled with the surname of some European immigrant. But names like Pabst, Budweiser, Schlitz and Heineken are no longer what catch our eye. How can those stodgy old monikers compete when Beard of Zeus, Backwoods Bastard, or Jaw Jacker can be found just a few feet away?

The naming of craft beer has taken on a life of its own. For some brewers, it’s a creative and playful endeavor, but for others, there’s too much at stake to simply treat it like a game. But in both cases, “what’s in a name,

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