Yellow Snow IPA? You’d have to wonder what they were thinking in Rogue brewery when they came up with that name. It can only make you think of one thing – and it’s not beer. Dogfish Head brewery must have had a similar thought process when they conjured up the name for their Golden Shower Imperial Pilsner. And then there’s Men’s Room Original Red by Elysian Brewing.

There’s plenty of madcap names knocking around the beer world. I’m not sure why; perhaps it has something to do with being the alternative to the big and boring mainstream beers, but there’s certainly no lack of imagination and humour among brewers, it seems.

There are plenty of puns – mostly the many, many riffs on "hops": Audrey Hopburn, Hoppy Ending, Smooth Hoperator and – you've got to love this one – Hoptimus Prime.

Damnation

There’s been a curious tendency towards evil/heaven/hell type language in beer names; perhaps to make you feel like you’re dabbling in some sort of dark alternate universe as you sip away on a glass of Damnation, Ruination, Dark Lord or how about an Irish Death? (I wouldn’t fancy having to order that off a barman.)

Donkeys and other animals have featured fairly regularly in beer-naming over the years too. Belligerent Ass Nut Brown Ale (sounds delicious). Pig’s Ass Porter.

Then there’s the straight-up silly ones such as Farmer’s Tan session IPA by Southern Tier or Smells Like Weed IPA by Dark Horse Brewing. Santa’s Butt or – one of my favourites – Apocalypse Cow by 3 Floyds Brewing which is a DIPA augmented with lactose. Parking Violation, an American pale ale by Russian River, is kind of clever, you have to admit.

As for the most bizarre, my vote goes to Polygamy Porter by Wasatch. It comes with the tagline: “Why have just one?”

@ITbeerista beerista@irishtimes.com