There is a high end specialty beer from Belgium called Delirium Tremens. I tried one of their special editions, Delirium Nocturnum. It was all right. But it's the name that shocks me. Delirium Tremens? As in the most severe alcoholic syndrome? Delirium Tremens occurs in alcoholics who have been heavily dependent on alcohol for a very long time and then stop abruptly. DTs are characterized by disorientation, panic attacks, seizures, tremors, and fever. In the most severe cases the afflicted experiences intense visual hallucinations (often pink elephants and tiny animalistic creatures (which adorn the beer label)) and formication (a sensation of crawling under the skin, often accompanied by visual hallucinations of attacking insects, rats, and giant spiders that come out of the wallpaper). In untreated cases the mortality rate is as high as 35%, in treated cases somewhere around 10%.

Does the name of this beer not then strike you as inappropriate? The name of the product is the worst case scenario resulting from use of the product. This is analagous to naming a pack of cigarettes Hole in the Throat Lung Cancer, a car Cranium Splatterer, a hamburger Artery Cementer, a hair dryer Shower Electrocuter. The beer is successful in Europe; in all likelihood a person has succumbed to Delirium Tremens drinking Delirium Tremens. I decry the name of this product.