Like everything else in the world, there have big changes brewing in the beer market. Traditional brands such as Budweiser and Miller are out – craft beer is in. And the number of local breweries making their own unique concoctions has risen dramatically over the past decade or more.
This has led to something of a crisis in the craft beer marketplace – coming up with a clever name for your libation. A recent story on AmericanCraftBeer.com nailed it – “22 Craft Beer Names That Made Us Laugh.” (Yes, there’s a morning show bit here.)
Among the best handles: Hazed & Infused Pale Ale from Colorado’s Boulder Beer Company, Light My Friar from Florida’s American Icon Brewery, and Mass Whole Lager made by the Wormtown Brewery in Massachusetts.
There are so many breweries that Artificial Intelligence has found its way into the naming process. Researcher Janelle Shane created a dataset of hundreds of thousands of beer names and let the algorithm do its thing.
AI did OK – names Cherry Trout Stout, Third Danger, and Dankering are clever, but they can’t touch the turn of a word us humans can dream up, especially after a lager – or three.
And that’s probably when my consummate “beer hunter,” Dr. Ed Cohen, excitedly reached out to the JacoBLOG assignment desk.
Ed’s revelation – music and radio play a bigger role in beer naming rights than you’d
might think. He found an IPA called Classic Rock (Ghost 1146) brewed by Adroit Theory a micro brewery in Purcellville, VA.
The design of the logo looks more like a Yes album than a beer. The beverage is in Adroit Theory’s oat cream series, described as “a rich, malt backbone overloaded with oats for satisfying for a silky, sweet body. Heavily dry-hopped for aromas of passion fruit, candied peaches, and crushed grapes.”
And all this time you’ve been listening to Classic Rock rather than drinking it. More information on this timeless libation is available here.
But that wasn’t Ed’s biggest discovery in his quest to find impressively cool beer names.
How about Frequency Modulation, the produce of Kindred Spirit Brewing Company in Richmond, Virginia (est. 2016). These guys obviously have a love for those “invisible airwaves crackling with life.”
And check out this hazy IPA’s logo.
But wait, there’s more. Like a great FM station, this IPA has a surprise or two. You might have noticed the sub headline: “Playing with hops to create one hit wonders!”
This craft brew is loving described by the Kindred Spirits folks (pictured). It’s lovingly
crafted, and a lot more interesting than “commercial-free music from the 80s, 90s, and Now!”
This brewery loves radio. You might have also noticed there’s a QR code. When you fire it up, you get the choice of four “stations” to select from, each positioned as “one hit wonders.”
There are GIFs underneath the FM pushbuttons as well. Someone dreamed up a very cool brand, as well as clever, attractive packaging.
And that raises an interesting point. We oftentimes talk at industry gatherings – and certainly in this blog – about radio needing a serious transfusion of “cool.”
Here’s comes one of the hottest beverage categories – craft beer – that uses FM radio has its namesake, its brand, its mission.
And they’re apparently spending more time, effort, and yes, money promoting radio’s best known, most accessible, and most popular platform.
And they’re a small independent brewery in Virginia.
So, thanks to Adroit Theory for promoting my favorite radio format using a current trend to spread the word that timeless music and a great beverage just naturally go together.
Then there’s the folks at Kindred Spirits, unknowingly providing the radio broadcast industry with a fun new product whose likely appeals to a younger, more diverse audience than most radio stations do. And now they’re doing my marketing and promotion in a cool environment than the radio broadcasting as done for years.
They’re not screaming about podcasts – they’re promoting the quality, ubiquity, and cool factor of FM radio. Bless them. I hope this new IPA become huge.
Frequency Modulation could become my favorite beverage, just as its namesake features my favorite entertainment.
It’s 5 o’clock somewhere.
I’ve got the next round.
You can order some liquid Frequency Modulation here.
And Dr. Ed, I owe you a beer.
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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Two of my favorite things – radio and beer together – although they are not to practiced and consumed at the same time. Absolutely love this article even if I’m exploring the non-alcoholic beer realm for health reasons. Haven’t backed off radio at all – still swinging and cracking the mic one night a week for WRCJ.
So great to hear from you, Linda. Enjoy your time behind your natural habitat – a mic in a studio.
Here’s one that should have made the list… Rahr & Sons in Ft. Worth, Texas has a higher alcohol beer that they have cheekily dubbed the, ‘Pecker Wrecker!’ Very on brand for our rockers!
Not to be outdone, my favorite local craft brewer in Lewiston ME, Baxter, has a pale ale named “Responsibly,” as in “Drink…”
Here’s to you, Fred.
Always appreciate you, John. Cheers!
WHO thinks of these things?
We have Double Groove Brewing here in Baltimore County, whose entire marketing strategy is Classic Rock-related. Currently on tap are: Gimme 3 Hops, Bang Your Hops, Crossroads Cream Ale, Cold As Weisse, Back In Black Cherry, Helles Bells, Brown Ale Girl, You Bitter You Bet, Running With The Doppelbock, and Dirty White IPA.
https://doublegroovebrewing.com/
And as far as radio is concerned, there’s Mikerphone in suburban Chicago, whose logo prominently displays a microphone. https://www.mikerphonebrewing.com/
Yeah, I may have had a beer at both of the above.
This blog has some of the best beer finders!
Here in Sonoma County, California, there are almost as many craft breweries as there are wineries! 102.7, The Wolf, is participating in an annual event called The Battle of the Brews. I discovered a local brew pub called “Wolfhouse Brewing” that I thought would be a perfect partner for the event, coming up on April 9. We had coasters printed with the “Battle of the Brews” logo on one side (with a QR code for more details on the event), and our radio station logo on the other side (also with a QR code that takes you to our website). We’ll have a presence at the event with Wolfhouse Brewing giving us a tap in their booth containing a beer named for the radio station–“Wolfpack Brew.” The tap also has the 102.7, The Wolf, logo on the handle. Wolfhouse is also a venue for live music. My (classic rock) band plays there regularly, and we’re able to promote the brew pub, live music, and the Battle of the Brews event on the radio.
It sounds like you guys have already “tapped” into the idea, Mike. And congrats on using the QR code, an increasingly powerful way to spread your brand’s value proposition with the community.