Alabama is filled with great small breweries that like to give their brews creative names, often based on local places or legends. If you would like to suggest some names to add to the list below, email kkazek@al.com.

1. Kudzu.

This porter made by Back Forty Beer Co. in Gadsden is named for kudzu, also known as The Vine that Ate the South.

Kudzu is a Japanese plant introduced to the United States in 1876 at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. In 1883, it was exhibited at the New Orleans Exposition. Kudzu was widely marketed for use as an ornamental plant for shading porches, as food for cattle and a cover plant to prevent soil erosion. Now, without natural enemies in the region, it spreads at the rate of 150,000 acres each year, faster than it can be mowed or poisoned to control it.

2. Miss Fancy's Tripel.

This tripel-style ale is made by Avondale Brewing Co. in Birmingham. It is named for Miss Fancy, an elephant that was a star attraction at the Birmingham Zoo for 21 years. The elephant was purchased in 1913, along with several smaller animals, from Hagenback-Wallace Circus and placed in Avondale Park. In 1911, cages were built in the park for a small collection of animals that eventually grew into Birmingham Zoo, according to Bham Wiki.

Miss Fancy, reportedly born in 1871, was an Indian elephant who lived until 1954. According to legend, the City of Birmingham came up with some of $2,000 needed to buy the animals from the circus and private groups also donated, bringing the total to $1,500. To come up with the remaining $500, Birmingham Age Herald publisher Ed Barrett reportedly asked readers to help pay the remaining debt on Miss Fancy and donations poured in until there was enough money to buy her. She remained at the zoo until 1934, when she returned to the circus.

3. Tuskaloosa.

This stout beer from Druid City Brewing in Tuscaloosa is named for Chief Tuskaloosa, also spelled Tuskalusa, Tushkalusa, Tastaluca and Tuskaluza, a native chief who lived in the 1500s and for whom the modern city of Tuscaloosa was named.

Tuskaloosa was chief of the area that later became Alabama of people who may have been ancestors of the Choctaw and Creek people. Tuskaloosa was known for leading the 1540 Battle of Mabila against Hernando De Soto and the men in his expedition. Tuskaloosa was taken hostage by the men to ensure they were given supplies and safe passage but when the expedition reached Mabila, natives there led a surprise attack. During an eight-hour battle, De Soto's men burned Mabila. Tuskaloosa, his son and hundreds of native warriors were dead and De Soto's expedition was crippled.

4. S'Wheat Home.

This American-style wheat ale is made by Fairhope Brewing Co. in Fairhope. It pays homage to a song many people consider the state anthem, "Sweet Home Alabama." The song was recorded by the group Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1973 at Studio One in Doraville, Ga., despite the fact that the band became closely associated with studios in Muscle Shoals, Ala., and often recorded there.

5. Merry Widows.

Merry Widows is a Russian imperial stout created by Fairhope Brewing Co. and named for a mystic society formed for the celebration of Mardi Gras in Mobile. The group, Cain's Merry Widows, was formed in 1974 and named in honor of Joe Cain, the man credited with reinstating Mardi Gras celebrations in Mobile after the Civil War, when they were halted due to the hostilities.

Joe Cain Day is celebrated each year on the Sunday before Fat Tuesday and members of the Merry Widows, dressed in black and heavy mourning veils, walk to Cain's grave in Church Street Graveyard to lay a wreath before continuing to his former home on Augusta Street for a toast.

6. Bankhead Tunnel.

The Bankhead Tunnel was the name given to a beer created by Fairhope Brewing Co., the first installment in its Fairhop IPA series. The larger batch was later named (Take the) Causeway IPA.

The Bankhead Tunnel in Mobile was completed in 1940 and named for John Hollis Bankhead, a U.S. senator from Alabama and grandfather to actress Tallulah Bankhead. The tunnel takes Government Street beneath the Mobile River from Blakely Island to the downtown area. It cost $4 million to build.

The tunnel, also the location of a scene in the 1977 film "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" was listed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage the year the film debuted. Read more here.

Fairhope Brewing says on its website: "Any Lower Alabamian can tell you that if you're trying to cross Mobile Bay in the summer, leave the Bayway to the tourists and take the Causeway instead, and it all starts with the Bankhead Tunnel at the foot of Government Street."

7. Miracle Worker Tripel.

This tripel from Yellowhammer Brewery in Huntsville is named for Anne Sullivan, the woman credited with teaching the deaf-and-blind Helen Keller to communicate.

Sullivan came to Keller's Tuscumbia home in 1887 when the girl was 6 years old. Sullivan was left blind by an eye infection at age 8 and was taught to read and write at the Perkins School for the Blind. The story of how she was able to teach Helen to communicate, particularly the breakthrough with her understanding of the word "water" at the family's pump, is depicted in numerous books and movies, as well as a play that is performed annually at Ivy Green, Keller's birthplace in Tuscumbia. Sullivan was dubbed "The Miracle Worker," which is also the title of several movies and the play about her relationship with Keller.

Read more here.

8. Lost Highway.

Described as a "malty black lager" on the website for Yellowhammer Brewery, Lost Highway was named for a song made popular by Hank Williams. The song was written and initially recorded by blind country singer Leon Payne in 1948 before Williams recorded it in 1949.

Some lyrics are:

"Now boys don't start to ramblin' round

On this road of sin are you sorrow bound

Take my advice or you'll curse the day

You started rollin' down that lost highway."

In 1997, the Alabama Legislature voted to name a portion of Interstate 65 "Hank Williams Memorial Lost Highway." The stretch starts at Georgiana where Williams was raised and runs to Montgomery, where he once lived and where he is buried in the Oakwood Cemetery Annex. He died in 1953 at the age of 29.

9. Snake Handler.

Snake Handler is a double/Imperial IPA beer created by Good People Brewing Co. in Birmingham. It was inspired by the book "Salvation on Sand Mountain," which chronicles the tale of a snake-handling religious sect in northeastern Alabama and subsequent trial for attempted murder.

In the early 20th century, snake-handling religions, which many describe as cults, became active in the Appalachian Mountain regions of Alabama, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. The practice of snake handling during religious ceremonies was begun in 1909 by George Went Hensley of Grasshopper, Tenn., a Church of God pastor who preached that the Bible should be taken literally, including the verse Mark 16:17-18: "And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."

When the Church of God later banned the practice, Hensley formed his own church and continued handling snakes. He and his followers believed that if they were bitten and died, it was God's will. Any bites remained untreated, so if the bitten person survived, that too was God's will.

In 1991, a snake-handling pastor from Scottsboro was accused of trying to murder his wife with snakes. Glenn Summerford, a preacher who had risen to a high level in the church, was accused by his wife, Darlene, who said he forced her hand into a box full of snakes. After she was bitten repeatedly, Summerford left her for dead. But Darlene survived to testify against him. Summerford was convicted and sentenced to 99 years in jail.

10. Singin' River.

Singin' River IPA is an amber ale made by Singin' River Brewing Co. in Florence. The Yuchi people of Alabama believed that the Tennessee River was home to a young woman who sang beautiful songs. The brewery's website said: "It was believed that it was a princess' song they heard from the river. When the river was low, it was a soft, quiet song. When the river was high, her tune was loud and strong."

It became known as "the singing river" and is said to be the inspiration for the musical talent from Alabama, particularly in the area known as The Shoals, where FAME Studios turned out numerous hits.

11. Handy's Gold.

This blonde ale from Singin' River Brewing Co. is named for William Christopher Handy, who became known as the Father of the Blues. Handy was born Nov. 16, 1873, in Florence. Handy is credited with creating contemporary blues and remains one of the most influential American composers and songwriters. The W.C. Handy Music Festival is held each year in Florence and a statue of the famed musician is located in Handy Park. He died March 28, 1958.

12. Monkeynaut.

Monkeynaut is an India Pale Ale made by Straight to Ale in Huntsville. It was named in honor of monkeys sent on experimental flights before humans were sent to space, most notably Miss Baker and Miss Able, who were the first monkeys to survive a trip into space in 1959. They were featured on the cover of LIFE magazine for their feat. Able died soon after returning from space during a procedure to remove electrodes. Miss Baker would go on to become the world's longest living squirrel monkey. She was brought to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville in 1971 and lived there until her death in 1984. She is buried at the center and people often leave bananas on her monument. Read more here.

13. Lily Flagg Milk Stout.

This milk stout from Straight to Ale in Huntsville is named in honor of a Jersey cow named Signal's Lily Flagg. Lily, born in 1884, became the top butter producer in the world in 1892 when she produced milk to make 1,047 pounds of butter. Lily was owned by W. E. Matthews and Gen. Samuel H. Moore of Huntsville.

To celebrate Lily's record year, Huntsville officials held a public reception. Owner Samuel Moore would host another celebratory party July 21, 1892, at his Huntsville home. He painted the home butter yellow, built a dance platform and installed some of the region's first electric lights. As she aged, Lily was eventually sold and her date of death is unknown. Read more here.

14. Brother Joseph's.

This Belgian-style dubbel from Huntsville's Straight to Ale is named for the monk Brother Joseph Zoettl, who was born in Bavaria in 1878.

Zoettl, who was maimed and left hunch-backed, worked at Cullman's St. Bernard Abbey, shoveling coal in the power plant. In 1932, he began creating miniature structures of religious sites in a 4-acre park in an old quarry on the grounds of abbey. By his death in 1961, he had created 125 miniature reproductions of some of the most famous religious structures of the world using discarded materials like bricks, marbles, tiles, sea shells, toys and marbles. The site is now a tourist attraction called Ave Maria Grotto. It is listed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage and the National Register of Historic Places.

15. Sand Island Light House.

This German kolsh-style ale made by Huntsville's Straight to Ale was originally named Stop Work 689 but was renamed in 2013 to celebrate the brewery selling its beers statewide. The lighthouse is the state's southernmost point, located near Dauphin Island at the mouth of Mobile Bay. The first light was destroyed during the Civil War and was rebuilt in the 1870s. Today, both the lighthouse and the tiny island on which it is located are threatened by age and deterioration. A group is working to preserve the light.

Kelly Kazek is following the trends and talking about Real Alabama. Call her at 256-701-0576, find her on Facebook, or use contacts at the top of this story. Follow her Odd Travels and Real Alabama boards on Pinterest.