Fun with brewery names

The craft brewery revolution is still going strong.  Michigan, for example, now has about 100 breweries, with several more in various stages of planning.  Other states are experiencing similar growth in their brewing industries.  One of the things I particularly enjoy is finding out the names of the new breweries and where the names come from.  I noticed that some of the names are amusingly similar in some interesting ways.  Here are some examples.

Right Brain Brewery (Traverse City, MI)/Left Hand Brewing (Longmont, CO)

Schmohz Brewing Company (Grand Rapids, MI)/Shmaltz Brewing Company (Saratoga Springs, NY)

Clown Shoes (Ipswitch, MA)/Jester King Craft Brewery (Austin, TX)

Boulder Brewing Company (Boudler, CO)/Stone Brewing Company (Escondido, CA)

Mt. Pleasant Brewing Company (Mt. Pleasant, MI)/Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project (Westport, MA)

Witch’s Hat Brewing Company (South Lyon, MI)/Magic Hat Brewing Company (South Burlington, VT)

Goose Island Beer Company (Chicago, IL)/Frog Island Brewery (Ann Arbor, MI)

Short’s Brewing Company (Elk Rapids, MI)/Red Jacket Brewing Company (Calumet, MI)
Original Gravity Brewing Company (Milan, MI)/Final Gravity Brewing Company (Decauter, MI)

Cheers,

Zymus

Shmaltz Brewing Company

As a collector of beer bottles, I like it when brewers do a little extra for their labels.  Some labels are artful, others are clever, a few are intellectually engaging, and some use humor.  The label is an important part of marketing the beer.  I recently came across a set of beers brewed by the Shmatlz Brewing Company that are marketed with a Coney Island theme.  The labels featured a guy hammering a nail into his nose, a circus freak, a lady showing cleavage and gleefully swallowing a sword, and a buxom lady with streaked hair lovely holding an albino python whose head is very close to her mouth.  Sex sells, right?  The labels extol the oral sensibilities of the beer, etc.

The labels expand a theme and got me, at least, to give them a try.  As expected they were all mediocre beers, except for the albino python.  This beer was supposed to be a wit-style, which should have high carbonation.  This beer, however, exploded with carbonation.  When I poured it into a glass as carefully as I could, 9/10 of the glass was foam.  Nothing says amateur brewing more than a super over-carbonated beer.  I waited, but the foam just kept building.  I decided to brave the foam and take a sip.  The beer foamed in my mouth.  Now maybe there is some other sexual reference there that I'm not getting, but once you are past the label the beer better deliver something.  Eventually, I did something I rarely do, I poured the foaming mess down the drain.

Lesson learned?  Probably not...

Cheers,

Zymus.