My geography and brewery interests collided a few months ago. The happy result produced Geo-Brewities. Apparently Google says I own that term now, a pseudo-portmanteau of geography + brewery + oddities. I don’t expect it to become part of the popular lexicon. It’s not that catchy.
Developing the List
I took a different approach on the second and possibly final round of this series. The renewed effort began as I noticed a lot of breweries and brewpubs with numbers incorporated into their names. Once again I started with the Brewers Association directory of breweries. It included 5,309 listings for the United States alone. However, that’s also why this might be the last time. If I check again there will be more — a lot more — and I’m not sure I can withstand that level of tedium one more time.
From that nearly overwhelming universe, I distilled a couple of hundred breweries that matched my numerical criteria. Then I documented them in a spreadsheet and shared it with the 12MC audience. The usual caveats applied: omissions and spelling errors were unintentional; the file is only as good as the source and it only applies now (August 2014). Also, it will be out of date if you happen to read this article in the distant future.
Finding Patterns
That left me with a big list of breweries that incorporated numbers in their names. What should I do with it? Well, examine it and look for patterns that might align with 12MC’s geography themes, of course. It encompassed every cardinal number from 1 through 16. A prospective brewer wishing to be original would have to start with 17. The smallest number was fractional (several breweries with half of this-or-that) and the largest was 5050 (FiftyFifty Brewing of Truckee, California). I ignored zero and infinity although they both existed in Vermont for some odd reason.
Naturally, patterns revealed themselves.
Area Codes
The first time I recall a telephone area code associated with brewing was Goose Island’s 312 Urban Wheat. I’m not sure when it first hit store shelves although Beer Advocate reviews extended back as far as 2004. Since then, 312 Urban Wheat won a slew of awards at the Great American Beer Festival and became one of Goose Island’s flagship brews. Those three simple digits associated strongly with a specific geography, downtown Chicago, and resonated with a customer demographic that the brewery hoped to reach. And it worked.
A similar premise served as inspiration for an episode of Seinfeld that aired in 1998, focusing on the 212 area code of New York City. Clearly an area code could serve as a strong brand identifier and a marketing mechanism.
Regardless of the original inspiration, a solid association between area codes and the craft brewing industry spread nationwide.
- 303 Brewing; Denver, CO (planned)
- (405) Brewing Co; Norman, OK (planned)
- 406 Brewing; Bozeman, MT
- (512) Brewing; Austin, TX
- 515 Brewing; Clive, IA
- 603 Brewery; Londonderry, NH
- 612Brew; Minneapolis, MN
- 903 Brewers; Sherman, TX
As noted in the list, area code 903 covered Sherman, Texas. Oddly, the telephone phone number for 903 Brewers listed a 214 area code (Dallas and its eastern metropolitan area). I’ve yet to figure out that paradox.
Admission to the Union
Twelve Mile Circle discusses individual US states all the time so it was nice to see a set of brewers who paid attention and took lots of notes during mandatory state history classes back in junior high school. Thus, they incorporated the correct order that their respective states joined the Union.
- 12th State Brewing; Greensboro, NC (planned)
- 14th Star Brewing; St. Albans, VT
- 38 State Brewing; Littleton, CO
- 49th State Brewery; Healy, AK
- 1912 Brewing; Tucson, AZ (planned)
Arizona joined the Union in 1912 in case anyone wondered about that last one. Extra credit went to 1st Republic Brewing. It was named for a government that existed briefly (1777-1791) prior to Vermont becoming a US state. Also, before anyone mentions Bear Republic Brewing in California, let’s recognize that it didn’t have a number in its name so it fell outside of the rules for this article.
Let’s also recognize breweries that referenced the United States Constitution since we’re already on an historical theme: 21st Amendment Brewery (ended prohibition on alcohol); 1933 Brewing (year that prohibition ended); and my favorite, 8th Amendment Brewing (prohibits cruel and unusual punishment).
Highways
There were numerous instances of breweries named for minor streets, plus others named for street addresses, mile markers and highway exits. However, I wanted those associated with larger highways, a frequent 12MC topic. Like area codes, highway identifiers correlated strongly to geography and thus could target specific customers.
- A1A Ale Works; St. Augustine, FL
- Highway 1 Brewing; Pescadero, CA
- Pike 51 Brewing; Hudsonville, MI
- 101 North; Petaluma, CA
- 101 Brewery; Quilcene, WA
Two breweries named for US Highway 101? That warranted further discussion.
Highway 101 was one of the original highways designated in 1926, running from San Ysidro, California to Olympia, Washington, nearly the entire length of the west coast of the United States from Mexico to Canada. It invokes feelings of identity and nostalgia for many people, maybe not as great as the legendary Route 66 although certainly at a respectable level. Its endpoints changed over time in a rather confusing fashion in recent years, as noted in detail at usends.com. Nonetheless, that wouldn’t change its usefulness as a marketing tool.
Somewhat Related
I have beer on my mind because I’ll be at my favorite beer festival on Saturday (Aug. 9, 2014), the Great Taste of the Midwest in Madison, Wisconsin. Send me a note if you plan to be there and I’ll try to find you. I might even do some live tweeting. That should be amusing.
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