CHARLOTTETOWN — Island experts are sounding the alarm that there are fewer and fewer untapped references that can be used for names of craft beer.
“There is Fixed Link, Towers Mall, PEI Senators, Crapaud Tractor Pull… there’s only so many esoteric references that people can remember,” says Dr. Darcie Melanson from the Department of Recent History at UPEI. “I worry that in the future there will be a name for a beer that isn’t a reference to something that happened 20 years ago.”
Recent history will remain live and vibrant as long as it is the name of a beer
Donnie Jones, local brewmaster
“This is the golden age of naming beer,” Dr. Melanson continued. “There are still dozens of events that happened that are worthy of being memorialized on a beer can. It taps into our collective desire to remember things, but only while we have a slight buzz.”
“My personal favourite is ‘Cancelled Beyoncé Concert in Summerside,’ which is a golden ale and also a very real thing that happened.”
Local brewmaster Donnie Jones agrees.
“Whether it’s a beach day with your friends and White Juans [a lager, named after a snowstorm in 2004], a quiet evening around a campfire with a six-pack of Loki 7 [a golden stout, named after a person who planted a pipe bomb in 1995], or an intimate night with a loved one sharing one of our newest offerings, Evening Patriot Pale Ale [a pale ale named after a former newspaper], rest assured that recent history will remain alive and vibrant, as long as it is the name of a beer.”
“When we run out of references,” added Jones, “we’ll just have to make some up.”
The Islander 