With clever craft-beer names running dry, brew makers turn to song lyrics

Hoptical Illusion, Hoparazzi, Hopnotist, RoboHop and even Total Eclipse Of The Hop: these are all already actual Canadian beer names. The growth of craft beer is great for people who prefer to drink locally made and small-batch brew, but has led to an interesting problem for the people making them: The puns are all taken.

For inspiration naming its beers, one small brewery in Seaforth, Ont., is leaning on its playlist. At the tiny Half Hours on Earth Brewery, co-owners Kyle Teichart and Kristen Harburn mine the music they listen to when it comes time to name their sour and farmhouse-inspired ales.

The brewery’s name comes from a song lyric by the now-defunct New York indie rock band Silver Jews: “Half hours on earth/What are they worth/I don’t know,” from the song Trains Across the Sea.

Their dry-hopped sour ale is called Yalla Yalla after a song by Joe Strummer and The Mescaleros, while Chicago punk bank Screeching Weasel and their song Totally were borrowed to name a tart farmhouse ale with raspberries and hibiscus.


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