So, you've spent hours brewing up your first (or maybe hundredth) homebrew.  You tasted that first bittersweet sip of your new creation, and it's just about perfect. All it's missing now is a perfect and clever name to match.

Use these tips to help you choose a name for your next homebrewed beer.

1. Curate a Word Association List
Spend some time brainstorming words that pertain to your specific brew.  Think about how you made it, the ingredients that went into it, the alcohol percentage, and most importantly: the taste.  Any words will do, but come up with as many words as you can.

If you need help coming up with beer-related words, www.words-to-use.com/words/beer/ can help you with that.

2. Location, Location, Location
ex:  Alpine Duet IPA  (from Alpine, CA)
Consider where you brewed your beer.  What city do you live in? What room/building did you brew it in? What are some local landmarks?  Add some of these words to your list.

3. Beer Type and Style
ex:  Cascade Brewing Apricot Ale
Cascade Brewing lets its brew mingle with real apricots during their process.  They make it clear in their choice of name that Apricots are what make this brew special. Think about the type and style of beer that you brewed.  Is there anything unique about your beer? Is it a super sweet blonde? No wait, that's me ;) Play off of your beer's unique style and taste. 

4. Try a Pun
ex: Hopra Winfrey
Use the list of words that you came up with to try to make a pun out of them.  Think about if any of the words from your list sound like any other words. 
 
This site at punpedia.org has a great list of beer-related puns to help you out.

5.  Make it Rhyme
ex: Pils and Thrills 
**Bonus points for combining multiple strategies!**
 Go through your list again and think of words that rhyme. Do any of the words in your list rhyme with any of the other words in the list? Can you think of any other words that rhyme with the words in your list? Your name will be twice as good if one of the rhyming words is also a pun!

6. Alliteration Always Accentuates Awesome Ales
ex:  Slippery Slope Stout
I think this is the easiest and most effective method on this list.  Alliteration always sounds great, and it is easy to come up with words that start with the same letters. Try matching up some words on your list to other words that start with the same letters. If you don't have any winners there, try picking some of your favorite words from the list and adding one, two, or three words that start with the same letter before or after it. You will be surprised at how easily you nail the name!

7. Use a Song Title
ex:  Live and Let Rye
Think of some of your favorite song titles.  Do any of them have words you could change to make a beer pun?  There are plenty of iconic songs out there for you to choose from.  Does your beer remind you of any of your favorite songs? It would be a great idea to choose one of those and relate it to beer somehow. 

8. Make a Pop Culture Reference
ex:  Chocolate Rain
Think of some pop culture references.  Are there any iconic videos that you can relate to your beer somehow?  Are there any past or present memes that make you and your friends laugh? List off as many as you can think of and see if you can make any word associations with the words on your list.  You can use a pun, or get lucky and find a pop culture reference that already has a word relating to your beer in it (Like the "chocolate" in Chocolate Rain)

9. Use Your Own Name
ex: Erica's Elixir
This is your creation! Let everyone know by using your name.  Combine your name with words to make an alliteration, or perhaps make a beer pun out of your name.  

10. Keep it Simple
ex:  Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
Sometimes it is okay to stick to the basics and use something generic.  A straightforward name helps people know what kind of beer they are getting right away and leaves no questions. Good beer is good beer; we do not need to see a fancy name to know what tastes good!​

Author: Erica Esserman She is a full-time adventurer and creative living in the heart of the San Diego Craft Brewing scene for the last 5 years.