Pig Love started with a hashtag.

Until then, it was simply known as Maple Bacon Porter, which is really more of a beer style than a name. But one day brewers Krista and Brett Cotton took a picture of their creation and added #piglove as the caption during a summer beer festival in Ypsilanti, Mich.

“I had conversations with people all day about how much they love bacon and were so excited that we put it in a beer,” said Krista Cotton, who along with husband Brett operate Cotton Brewing Co. in Adrian. “During one of the conversations I told someone that ‘I have pig love, too.’ That was the beginning of Pig Love, which we later adopted as the official name of our Maple Bacon Porter.”

A good name can go a long way in deciding a craft beer’s fate.

“When we are trying to come up with a name for a beer, the main goals are to come up with something that is going to stand out and something that is going to stick with people,” said Krista Cotton, who worked in accounting before becoming a professional brewer. “We want people to love the beer, be intrigued by its name, and remember it when they come back to order it again.

“The name of a beer is a part of the marketing process. It gets people’s attention and makes them want to try it. A beer’s name can be a determining factor in someone choosing our beer over someone else’s.”

That about sums it up, doesn’t it? And justifiably so because there are more breweries in the United States now than ever, so sticking out in the crowd does have its merits.

“It’s the name but also all the other aspects to it,” said Matt Donahue, a lecturer in the department of popular culture at Bowling Green State University. “It’s the name and the icon that gets used in a lot of these craft beers that are hugely important, which kind of folds into this whole marketing and promotion not only of the beer but all the other products you can sell as well: T-shirts, coasters, that sort of thing. It’s free advertising, in a sense.”

Names that draw attention to Ohio or cities or landmarks within the state are some of Donahue’s favorites. Great Lakes Brewing Co. in Cleveland, for instance, has several beers which pay homage to Ohio or the Great Lakes such as Burning River Pale Ale, Commodore Perry IPA, and Edmund Fitzgerald Porter.

“It’s amazing to see all of the different kinds of references to Ohio cities or references in the region to which the beer is being made,” Donahue said.

He’s also fond of names of local breweries Great Black Swamp and Maumee Bay and how they explicitly draw attention to northwest Ohio.

“By keeping it local and by focusing in on the local connection, to me, personally, it helps everybody out,” he said. “It’s a good reference to Ohio and Ohio’s cultural heritage. Maumee Bay has the image of the Anthony Wayne bridge as their logo, which is a self-identifier to its Toledo locale. Great Black Swamp Brewing Co. is awesome because this region was once known as the black swamp.”

Other breweries in the area also make sure local is at the forefront of their business model.

Napoleon’s Flatrock Brewing Co. started out in Holgate and the brewery honors Holgate’s most famous native son, the late comedian Joe E. Brown.

“We just had the niece of Joe E. Brown stop by recently to give us her blessing and she donated a rare autograph from the actor to our taproom,” Flatrock brewer/​owner Lawrence Pritchard III said.

Joe E. Brown Ale is a regular in the Flatrock lineup, which also pays tribute to Pritchard’s favorite poet, Alexander Pushkin with Pushkin Russian Imperial Stout and to his families’ farm outside of Chillicothe, Ohio, with Pritchard Lane Pale Ale — “I spent many summers walking up and down this road so I wanted a beer not only named for my family but for the geographical area where we are from. This beer also honors rural Ohio,” he said.

Aaron Osborne, a co-owner of Findlay Brewing Co., said the brewery’s location was a no-brainer for inspiring a beer name or two.

“Floodwater Stout, which isn’t brewed with actual floodwater, came about not only because we are located downtown in the flood zone, but flooding is a huge issue in Findlay,” he said. “The name would be immediately recognizable and relatable to our customers. Also, it’s great for a laugh.

“Ohio Weather is another fun name that is just as easily relatable to any resident of Ohio, especially in December when the weather changes so dramatically from one day to the next. It’s our seasonal Cinnamon Vanilla Porter, so the name fits this time of year perfectly.”

Of course, beer names don’t always have to be local. Sometimes, they’re just fun. Like Cotton Brewing’s Pepper Spray Porter.

“Every February we attend an outdoor beer festival in Grand Rapids,” Krista Cotton said. “Spending six hours outside when it’s only 16 degrees can be a little rough, so we decided to create something that would really warm a person up on a cold winter day. 

“The end result was a beer brewed with a massive amount of Carolina Reaper Peppers, which are genetically engineered to be the hottest on Earth at around 2 million Scoville Units, or the equivalent of the heat generated by the same pepper spray used by law enforcement.”

Contact Bob Cunningham at bcunningham@theblade.com or 419-724-6506.

First Published January 28, 2016, 5:00 a.m.