This is What Happens When a Neural Network Creates Craft Beer Names

What hath science wrought? Answer: Theoretical beers. At least that’s what was created by scientist Janelle Shane, a beer fan (presumably) who recently set a neural network to work creating new beer names. It’s a noble and necessary pursuit: As Shane points out on her website, trademark disputes between craft brewers have been skyrocketing in recent years as the total number of U.S. breweries blows past 5,000 and the number of overall beers (and thus beer names) expands exponentially. Sometimes, there simply aren’t enough beers to go around.

Thus, Shane thought she might see what happened if she set a neural network she’s training loose on creating new beer names. In her words: “I knew I wanted to train the neural network separately for different kinds of beers. Different categories of beers have their own distinct naming conventions; in theory, you should roughly be able to tell a stout from an IPA from a double IPA by the name alone.”

The results are … unusual, to say the least. They include the likes of “Binglezard Flack IPA” and “Pimperdiginistic The Blacksmith W/ Cherry Stout,” and that’s only scratching the surface. Check out the full lists of neural network-generated beer names below, and check out Shane’s site here. In the past, she’s used the same technique to create names for new Pokemon,new metal bands and more. All are quite entertaining.

Some of our favorites from below: “Devil’s Chard,” “Blangelfest” and “Oarahe Momnila Day Revenge Bass Cornationn Yerve Of Aterid Ale.”