More on Great Lakes beer: Which has the best name?

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Great Lakes watershed boundary.

Last week we asked you to nominate the best beer made from the waters of the Great Lakes watershed.

And what a great job you did. The Echo staff is inspired to turn that list into a shopping list. One disappointment: The nominees didn’t reflect the binational nature of the watershed. They don’t make beer in Canada? If you’ve got a favorite made from Canadian waters of the Great Lakes watershed, make sure to add it to the original post.

And as far as that goes, the nominees were very Michigan heavy. But then, perhaps Michigan does produce the best beer in the Great Lakes basin. Disagree? You can still nominate best tasting Great Lakes beer here.

For this post, we’re going to slightly shift the task to selecting nominees for the best NAME of a Great Lakes brewed beer. List the name, brewer and Great Lakes city. Remember, it has to be brewed within the Great Lakes watershed. See map.

And to get things started, here are a few of our favorites names:

  • Burning River Pale Ale, Great Lakes Brewing Co., Cleveland, Ohio
  • 312 Urban Wheat Ale, Goose Island Brewery, Chicago, Ill.
  • Two Hearted Ale, Bell’s Brewery, Inc.,  Kalamazoo
  • Blushing Monk, Founders Brewing Co., Grand Rapids, Mich.
  • Killer Bee, Dragonmead Microbrewery, Warren, Mich.
  • Thor’s Hammer, Bastone Brewery, Royal Oak, Mich.
  • Widow Maker Black Ale, Keweenaw Brewing Co., Houghton, Mich.
  • Dragon’s Milk, New Holland Brewing Co., Holland, Mich.

How about it? Got some nominations for best named Great Lakes beer?  Put them in the comments below and next week we’ll run a more formal poll.

Regarding the best tasting Great Lakes beer, we’re still taking nominations on this post.

 

21 thoughts on “More on Great Lakes beer: Which has the best name?

  1. This is much-ado-about-nothing, what’s-in-a-name, six-of-one, half-a-dozen-of-another. It is yuppyism at it’s finest, a marketer’s dream, BS.

    Whether you want to know or not, my favorite beer is Miller Lite. No fancy name, just a good lite beer, and good for you. My second favorite is Blueberry Mead, simple name, delicious. My favorite name, “Moose Drool”, wouldn’t drink it though, too thick.

  2. At Copper Canyon in Southfield, MI, i have had some fun naming beers, including Groundskeeper Willies Secret Stash (scotch ale), Elzar’s Spice Weasel Explosion (Christmas ale), Ginger Kids Revenge (Imperial Red), Figgy Pud’n (Baltic Porter with figs and spices), and Melange des Fleurs (saison with flowers).

  3. Dave,

    Looks like it’s due west of Green Bay and probably in the Great Lakes basin, but it’s a close call based on the map above.

    Gary Wilson

  4. I like the name of Central Waters pale ale: Happy Heron.

    Not only is the beer name appropriate for this poll, but so is the brewery name!

  5. “Riders of the Purple Loosestrife” – a mead/ beer by Churchkey Brewing near Campbellford, Ontario

  6. Bell’s Two-Hearted Ale – referring to the Big Two-Hearted River, a UP river and the title of an Ernest Hemingway short story about a fishing/backpacking trip on the Fox River near Seney. In the story, Nick Adams hops off a train and hikes parallel to the river through a recently-burned forest, which is notable now that wildfires are going through the Seney Natl Wildlife Refuge. Therefore, everyone should raise a Two-Hearted Ale toast to the crews trying to put out the fires.

  7. Jimmy Carter ought to have a beer named after him. (His brother did, but that was prior to one successful (some say the only successful) policy decision of his term as President. He deregulated the beer industry. By 1979 there were less than 10 commercial breweries in the country. There are probably more than 10 now in most major cities and people like us enjoying unique brews from across the Great Lakes region.

    My vote for name goes to:
    Black Tulip – New Holland Brewing Co.

  8. Hey Rob,

    First, my perspective comes from a number of years in the wine trade on the buying side.

    Goats do Roam…yes, I got the play on words. But why not call it by the name of the winery and its varietal name of Syrah, Grenache, etc. emphasizing the quality of the wine vs. slick marketing? I have not tasted this wine.

    I have tasted Fat Bastard, Yellow Tail, and the Little Penguin each a number of times and stand by my statement.

    Wine Spectator is a lifestyle publication centered around wine. I and other professionals I worked with never relied on Wine Spectator for buying guidance.

    Wine is notoriously subjective and a wine I find generic may be well liked by someone else. That’s always the case and I believe all the wines I referenced except maybe Little Penguin have been very successful with consumers, especially Yellow Tail.

    My point was that they are more about marketing than quality.

    Neither of us can make a “true” statement about a wine’s quality. That implies that another opinion is “untrue.”

    We happen to have opinions that disagree.

    Thanks.

    Gary Wilson

  9. Gary, Have you tasted any of the wines that you lump together as being “less than generic wine
    lacking character and style”? Goats do Roam comes a South African winery that specializes in Rhone style wines and also makes goats’ milk cheese. They have a herd of over 800 dairy goats and the play on words (Cotes du Rhone) is therefore legitimate. The wines are certainly neither generic nor lacking in character and have, in fact, scored consistently well in such respected publications as the Wine Spectator. They’re a great value and you should be more cautious about making such generalized and untrue statements about specific products.

  10. Kiss My Scottish Arse from Schmohz Brewing. Not only is the name awesome but it’s one of my favorite Scotch ales.

  11. Yeah Dave….I knew I’d likely be in the minority.

    I just believe those names distract from the product. And the fun comes from the product vs. the name.

    I’ve seen much of the wine business reduced to catchy names – Fat Bastard, Goats do Roam, Yellow Tail, Little Penguin and more.

    The product is nothing more and many times less than generic wine
    lacking character and style. It could all come from the same tank. But people are attracted to the names.

    It’s marketing and it works. I know this from having worked in the biz in a previous life.

    The craft brews are excellent and didn’t need to rely on bizarre names and images.

    But that decision has been made so I focus on the beer and not the label.

    Budweiser btw has its origins in place, not clever marketing.

    Ok, I’ll retreat to my cave where I can’t see the labels :)

    Gary Wilson

  12. Wolverine Beer in A2 has great names! Just a few:

    Drag Me To Helles Maibock (Helles is a German term for pale lager, I think)
    Gulo Gulo (an India Pale Lager; “Gulo Gulo” is the scientific name for a Wolverine)
    Faustian Stout
    Golden Hopportunity

  13. Gee Gary, not only is that no fun, that’s kind of an awkward standard. What kind of name do you envision that reflects the product? Budweiser?
    Some of those names may represent a connection that might not be readily apparent. Killer bee is a dark honey ale. Seems to me the name reflects the product.

  14. I prefer that the name of the product relate to the actual product, in this case beer.

    With that, I’m not a fan of craft brew names. What does Killer Bee or Blushing Monk have to do with beer?

    Even Burning River is a stretch but at least there is a connection to water.

    Focus on the beer and give the marketing department some time off.

    Gary Wilson

  15. ControversiALE (f.k.a. Hangin’ Frank), Short’s Brewing Co., Elk Rapids/Bellaire, MI

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