John Nasser, the father of the family team behind the recently (and finally!) opened Night Lizard Brewing Company on State Street, hopes their customer experience plays out like a comic strip. And in the last frame, he envisions, there’s a butt going out the door with a thought balloon that says, “That’s really good beer. I want to come back and try some of the others. And I learned something about conservation on the Central Coast, too.”
The educational twist will be due to Night Lizard’s lineup of beers, all of which sport unusual names, unless you’re up on regionally endangered species. There’s Gnatcatcher IPA, made in a juicy, very popular New England style; Fairy Shrimp SMaSH, a single-malt, single-hop ale; and Pussypaws Porter, to name a few.
“People come in and say, ‘The beer names are weird,’” explained Megan Hedrick, head of operations. “So we get to say, ‘Here’s why.’ It’s a conversation starter.” That means the staff is trained to know not just the beer, but the flora and fauna that each is named after. And in the putting-money-where-the-beer-goes department, 10 percent of all Night Lizard proceeds are being donated to conservation efforts.