how did ALE8 get their name?

how did ALE8 get their name?

Ale-8-One, created in 1926 by G.L. Wainscott, a man who had already beaten Coca-Cola in court and decided ginger-flavored revenge tasted better than cola.

But here's the controversial part: Wainscott couldn't come up with a name for his new drink, so he held a naming contest at the Clark County Fair.

And a 14-year-old girl won with "A Late One", which was 1920s slang for "the latest thing."

Think about that.

The most iconic beverage in Kentucky history, the drink that outsells Coke in half the state, the green glass bottle that sits on every porch from Paducah to Pikeville, was named by a teenager at a county fair.

No focus groups. No marketing consultants. No million-dollar branding campaigns. Just a kid who thought "the latest thing" sounded cool and walked away with whatever prize they were handing out in 1926, probably a ribbon and a jar of pickles.

And you know what? It stuck.

The name got shortened to "Ale-8-One", a pun so perfect it's been on every bottle for almost a century.

Meanwhile, modern companies spend millions trying to name products, hire agencies, test thousands of options, and still end up with garbage like "Frutista Freeze" or "Mtn Dew Baja Blast Zero Sugar Punch Kick."

Ale-8 let a 14-year-old handle it and became a legend.

The real controversy? We've been overthinking branding ever since.

Sometimes the best ideas come from the people who actually drink the stuff, not boardrooms full of guys in ties who've never set foot in Clark County.

So here's to "A Late One," the teenage girl who named it, and G.L. Wainscott for having the good sense to listen. Kentucky's been drinking it ever since.