The Beer Retard - February 12th, 2008

When it comes up that I blog about beer, people often ask "what's the name of your site?" I usually tell them to Google "beer retard." In anticipation of this weekend's Bay Area Beerapalooza events, I decided to print up some cards. This way if I'm drunk on barleywine and other strong beers, I can just palm off a card on someone.

In case you don't get it, the cards are half-assed on purpose (but they do look a damn sight better in person than in the picture you see above). While I admire some people's swanky business cards, I knew that I wanted something that was done quickly without much thought or effort. My lady friend's a graphic designer and she deserves a lot of the credit for the finished product. I'm pretty happy with the results.

One thing I wanted to mention about the name Beer Retard. A few days ago, a friend told me she didn't get the name. She didn't know what it had to do with beer or my relation to beer or what I was all about. I tried to explain to her that when I got my first email account several years ago, the word "socialretard" instantly popped into my mind because it summed up who I was at that moment. Everything retard-related came from that.

When I started blogging, it was natural to take the retard moniker and apply it to whatever subject I tackled. For awhile I had a movie blog called Movieretard and now I have a beer blog called Beer Retard. It's actually kind of fitting since I'm so into beer that you could say I'm just retarded about it. Whatever. Some people seem to like the name and others think it's stupid and could be seen as offensive.

When the day comes that someone tells me the name is offensive...say they're a brewer with a handicapped child and they think it's in bad taste. Well, that would be the day I'd consider finding a new name. For now I will continue to be The Beer Retard.