A little while back, the Crew was contacted by assistant brewer Michael Sharpe of Casa Vieja to see if we would be interested in collaborating on an imperial stout recipe. We never say no to such things, and pretty soon Franz Solo was crafting a recipe along with Sharpe and owner/head brewer Gary Socha.

None of us was able to attend brew day, unfortunately, but during a recent visit, three of us got to try a sample of the (very) young version of our collaboration. Back on Monday, Socha wrote us to say that the stout was ready to go, but it lacked one important thing.

The stout needed a name.

Over some beers on Zoom last night, Franz and I came up with a dozen possible names. This morning, over a group text chat, I also came up with the idea that it might be fun to let the general public join us in picking one of those dozen names. Hey, news is slow right now, so we needed something to fill content, and besides, this could be fun to see how much all of you are thinking on our wavelength these days.

Here is the dandy dozen of metal-inspired names. Vote for your favorite, and leave a comment, if you wish.

Once the public voting concludes Wednesday at noon, we will count that alongside our personal selections and submit the top choice to Casa Vieja for final approval.

Oh, and then of course we will announce the final winner on the day of the stout’s official release.

Thanks in advance, everyone.

Keep supporting local!

— Stoutmeister