What’s in a name?
A couple weeks ago we introduced our year-round beer offerings and told everyone the names for the first time. Since then, we’ve heard from many of our friends asking us where the names came from and what they mean. Don’t worry friends, we’ll feed your curiosity.
To discuss where the names come from, we have to take a step back and talk about who we are at Creature Comforts and offer a little insight to our philosophy as a brewery. So let us start where we started:
The Creature Comforts Manifesto
We’re drawn to craft beer for more than complex notes or fancy labels. We go craft because we want to go further. To craft better versions of ourselves and our world.
That’s why Creature Comforts Brewing Company is guided by more than malts, hops and profits. We’re dedicated to better being through being curious.
From our scientific brewing process to our wide-awake creative impulse to our small town tenacity, Creature Comforts is driven by the promise that a curious mind leads to better living.
We take inspiration from those who crave curiosity and share its reward.
The thinkers, the inventors, the artists, the explorers.We feed our own curious spirit through the purposeful pursuit of finely balanced artisanal beers, and our mission is to light that desire and follow its flame with our consumers.
Creature Comforts craves curiosity.
This manifesto is our flag we raise above our head, the building blocks to our home, the foundation upon which we stand to make every decision from. We authentically believe in craving curiosity and what that desire can craft in our lives and the future of our brewery. Sure we have dreams, but frankly we don’t have all the answers when it comes to what’s next for Creature Comforts. What we do have is the above pledge to ourselves and you to guide us along the way so we remain true to our beliefs and our friends that we share our beer with. With all this in mind, let’s talk about our names.
The Beer Names
Bibo
When kicking around ideas for names, we were immediately drawn to some of the prolific thinkers in history as inspiration and pretty quickly that landed us at Einstein. We thought, “Let’s not just do an homage, but let’s ask ourselves what made Einstein curious.” Einstein, in his later years, had a parrot. One whom he told jokes to and from all accounts, was quite a remarkable companion for the aging genius. We found out this parrot’s name was none other than Bibo, and very quickly afterwards we found out Bibo also means “I drink” in Latin. At this serendipitous intersection in our creative journey we knew we had our name. We suppose it doesn’t hurt that there is a lovely cracker note in our pils either.
Tropicália
Tropicália was an artistic movement originating in Brazil in the late 1960′s that encompassed theatre, poetry, and music. The unique style blended traditional Brazilian culture with a variety of foreign influences. It was a mix of the popular and the avant-garde. The people of the movement were essentially taking pieces of their past and mixing it with what they saw to be the future. As such, we’ve tried to do this with our Tropicália. Even the hop bill is a blend of the classic hop Centennial with some of the more new varietals Citra and Galaxy. This combination evokes a lovely tropical nose as the beer’s name would imply. We’ve moved away from the tongue-scraping bitter IPA’s that were so popular just a decade ago, taken some of their techniques and style, and moved forward into a flavorful, but not super bitter IPA that is our interpretation of where we want to go. Have a pint, close your eyes, and let the beer take you back to the bustling streets of Rio in the late 1960′s, erupting with art and life.
Reclaimed Rye
Reclaimed is a multifaceted name for us. First, Reclaimed applies to our home. Oneta Woodworks did an amazing job of reclaiming all of the old wood in our brewery and repurposing it in our space. Our building began it’s life in the 1940′s as a car dealership and then it turned into a tire shop. We wanted to keep our building’s heritage in tact but put a new spin on it. From the bars to the picnic tables to the ceiling in the bathrooms to the wall paneling, all of the pieces are original inhabiters of our building – many still showing years of history with tire marks and battle scars. Additionally, we set out to reclaim this style for ourselves and to make a beer we wanted in our glass. Initial inspiration ame from the curious notion of deconstructing a rye whiskey and reconstructing into sessionable, flavorful amber ale. The beer quickly evolved into a complex, malt-driven ale that uses malted rye and French oak to add a unique character and rounded body, similar to that of more old-world styles. Lastly, we’re joining the movement of craft brewers who are reclaiming beer back to it’s natural state from this hiccup in the history of good beer and the wake leftover from prohibition. Before prohibition there were thousands of breweries in this country and we’re just now getting back to that level, nearly 100 years later. For this reason, Reclaimed Rye is our battle cry.
Athena
Athena is sited as the goddess of many things; to us she was the goddess of wisdom, curiosity, arts, crafts, skill, and reason. We feel these are why she’s the perfect patron for our city and why we named our Berliner Weisse after her. Berliner Weisses traditionally gave a nod to where they are from (hence Berlin-er), and this is continued today with many new Berliners. We wanted to make sure we paid tribute to our city with ours so Athena is yours, Athens. It’s a unique beer for a unique city that we all love to call home.
Named for curious thinkers, a notion of getting back to the past to improve the future, the arts and how they challenge us to think and move forward, and our lovely city we call home; we feel the diversity of inspirations that led to our names offer a little insight to who we are at Creature Comforts. They are our daily reminder to be curious, find and follow our passions, find happiness, and then enjoy the creature comforts of life. We hope you do the same.