Three heads for hops

by Nicole Findlay

Who better to develop a motto for a brewing company than a man named Beer. 

This summer, a local micro-brewery approached the College of the Humanities to ask for help in developing a new motto – in Latin, for their suds.  Josh Beer came to mind.

“We knew we wanted accuracy, so online translation was out of the question. We’re a local company, so contacting Carleton University was an obvious choice,” said Jordan Bamforth, creative director, Beau’s All Natural Brewing Company.

Beer, an associate professor of Greek and Roman Studies, enlisted colleagues Greg Fisher and Shane Hawkins to sample the suds.

“Nothing says cool like a Latin motto,” said Fisher.

Three heads proved greater than one and Latin libations soon poured forth. While each variation emphasized the natural theme, they were ultimately discarded as pretentious, awkward or simply unlikely to have ever been uttered by Roman merrymakers. 

Finally, they toasted the winning version of Beau’s official motto “all natural tastes better.”

“It was a tough decision, but we chose pura naturalis bona because we felt it was succinct, easy to repeat and could be understood by those without knowledge of Latin,” said Bamforth.

Beau’s will officially launch the new coat of arms and Latin motto while it hoists a few pints in celebration of Oktoberfest.