I’m inveterate list maker. I love making them, reading them and commenting on them. I’ve been sharing any beer-related ones I come across here for three years now, so I figured it’s time I start making my own. So each Tuesday will be Top Ten Tuesday, when I’ll post a new list, usually with a beer-related theme. But one out of every four will not be a beer list, just something for fun. Please post your thoughts on each list; what you like, what you don’t, what you’d have included and what I was off my rocker to list. As I often comment on other lists, no list is ever going to find universal acceptance and agreement. In a sense, that’s their point, to spark a lively discussion or start a conversation.
The first list is my favorite names of Barley Wine-style ales, a usually colorful group. This is just the names I like, irrespective of what’s in the bottle. The one name I’ve always hoped someone would use for a Barley Wine is “Big Galoot,” hint, hint. Big Galoot Barley Wine; is has a certain ring to it, don’t you think? In case you didn’t know, a galoot is an old-fashioned slang word that means essentially “an awkward, eccentric, or foolish person,” though I usually think of a galoot as a lovable goofball, usually a bigger person, hence “big galoot.” It’s just one of those words that sounds sort of like what it means, though not quite onomatopoeia. It’s shame it’s fallen out of fashion and people rarely use it anymore. I, for one, try to use it whenever I can. Anyway, here’s List #1:
Top 10 Barley Wine Names
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Old Horizontal (Victory Brewing, Pennsylvania) |
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Fred (Hair of the Dog Brewery, Oregon) |
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Release the Hounds (Bull & Bush Pub & Brewery, Colorado) |
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TIE: Chicken Killer (Santa Fe Brewing, N.M.) / Super Chicken (Grand Lake Brewing, Colo.) |
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Old Numskull (AleSmith Brewing, California) |
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Old Gubbillygotch (Russian River Brewing, California) |
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Spank Me Baby (Tyranena Brewing, Wisconsin) |
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Slobberknocker (Capitol City Brewing, Maryland & D.C.) |
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Gluteus Maximus (Max’s Fanno Creek Brew Pub, Oregon) |
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Old Knucklehead (BridgePort Brewing, Oregon) |
Also, if you have any ideas for future Top 10 lists you’d like to see, drop me a line.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Chicken Killer is a great beer.
What about “Old Thunderpussy” from Magnolia? I love that name and it has a historical reference to boot! But granted it isn’t bottled…
Too bad it’s so well known — Bigfoot is actually a pretty excellent name for a barley wine from some brewery named after a west coast North American mountain range.
Call me Californian, but I’m a sucker for Olde Gnarlywine. Dude.
always been a fan of behemoth from three floyds
Hey Jay,
How about top ten craft beer with the most ABV? I’m thinking Utopias…
How About Weyerbachers Blithering Idiot, great name great beer!
my #1 is most definitely Mcquire’s 12% Ill Have What the Gentleman on the Floor is Having Barley Wine