DERK - SIN - KOO - GINN

What's so hard about a silly name? You don't say Budweiser like they wrote "Say It Ain't So" just like you don't rhyme Michelob with boob. So what should be coming out of your mouth when you say Dierksenkougan actually rolls off the tongue quite nicely, if you can manage to say it right:

DERK - SIN - KOO - GINN

That means if you're pronouncing it with six syllables and therefore sound like a drunken Scot, you are wrong and probably can't read. But I suppose I have to offer the benefit of the doubt, because it isn't like Dierksenkougan was chosen systematically or based on some greater meaning. But there is a traceable origin. Dierksenkougan is the pride and joy of a certain Kathryn Rozich, the combined hybrid of her favorite male and female names; respectively, Dierks and Kougan. The real question is if naming your daughter Kougan could be legally construed as child abuse. The name had a certain ring, so we made it a single word of, until now, ambiguous descent.

'Dierks,' an alternate spelling of 'Dirks' or just "Dirk," draws its heritage from an ancient Germanic leader of the same name. Today, 'Dierks' can be roughly translated to "ruler" or "king." Cool.

Cool is not the case with Kougan. We find 'Kougan' in several dialects of Japanese, and according to this site of compromised credibility, it means anything from audacity to rosy cheeks to male genitalia, none of which are particularly appropriate terms for describing a beverage. This is why Dierksenkougan will never be popular in Tokyo. "King of Balls" just doesn't demand the same degree of respect as "King of Beers."

Well Drinks & Well Wishes,
Your Brewmaster