Birds & Beer

Many birders will tell you that nothing goes better with birding that having a beer or two in the pub after a hard day bashing bushes or hiking a long trail for some lost reverse migrant. However, I don’t think that can account for the propensity of breweries to use birds as product names. It is pretty common. But, then, birds have always been popular names for unrelated things.  Familiar animal’s characteristics are interwoven in our culture, and birds are no exception, whether it be ‘early birds getting worms’, us getting ‘up with the lark’ or being a ‘night owl’ until our ‘swan song’.

Its hardly surprising then, that there are lots of ‘bird beers’ on offer. One of my personal favourites was ‘Old Speckled Hen’, a very strong craft ale. Anyone lucky enough to have birded on the Indian sub-continent will have enjoyed an ice-cold ‘Kingfisher’. From Parrot Larger in Australia, to Scarlet Macaw American Pale Ale there are hundreds of examples from around the world. Of course, if you want a ‘drop of the hard stuff’ there is always the Famous Grouse whiskey.Here is a list of UK craft beers with birding connections from a thread on a now defunct forum:

Kardy & Hanson – Crazy Crow, Crowing Cock, Guzzling Goose, Swallows Rest, Harvey – Knots in May, Harviestoun – Ptarmigan, Hopback – Turkeys Downfall, Kelham Island – Golden Eagle Pale Ale, Lichfield – Black Swan, Loddon – Red Kite, Mallards Brewery, Marisco Tavern – John O’s Puffin Purge, Marstons – Goose’s Revenge, Mauldons – Cuckoo, Morland – Old Speckled Hen, Oakham – Cold Turkey, Old Cottage – Pheasant Plucker, Orkney – Raven Ale, Paradise – Speckled Parrot, Roosters Brewery, Scattor Rock – Kingfisher, Skinners – Penguin Stout, Swan Inn – Black Swan, Trumpeter, Whooper, Triple fff – Little – Red Rooster, Turkey Brewery, Vale – Black Swan, Watkins – Merlin Stout, Welton’s – Old Cocky, West Yorkshire – Out for a Duck, White Hart – Tits Up Tits Down, Winfield’s – Raven Best Bitter, Woodbury – Green Goose, Woodfords – Spread Eagle Bitter, Woodhampton – Dipper, Jack Snipe, Ravenshead, Worldham – Harlequin – Contributed by Dave Parker