Free, as in Beer!

This is a link to an article discussing an open-source beer recipe.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.09/posts.html?pg=6

If 100,000 brewers around the world (just picked that number out of the air) were to tinker with the free beer recipe and contribute their findings under the terms of the license, there would doubtless be many branch lines of development that could result in a large variety of beer and beer-like beverages. Yet, all still based on the original recipe to one degree or another.

It's an interesting experiment and a smart marketing idea, at least.

beer4breakfast said:

If 100,000 brewers around the world (just picked that number out of the air) were to tinker with the free beer recipe and contribute their findings under the terms of the license, there would doubtless be many branch lines of development that could result in a large variety of beer and beer-like beverages. Yet, all still based on the original recipe to one degree or another.

It's an interesting experiment and a smart marketing idea, at least.

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Aren't most recipes OpenSource? I noticed that we all freely and willingly post our recipes so that others can tinker and experiment.

I think someone just wanted to slap the OpenSource label on something unusual in hopes of drawing attention.

Cheesefood said:

Aren't most recipes OpenSource? I noticed that we all freely and willingly post our recipes so that others can tinker and experiment.

I think someone just wanted to slap the OpenSource label on something unusual in hopes of drawing attention.

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Yes, it seems like there are countless beer recipes that are freely shared and modified at will, as you say. I'm sure there are many proprietary recipes too, especially among the commercial brewers. I wonder about the microbreweries? Does Samuel Adams or the tiny brew pub down the street give out their recipes to anyone who asks? (I'd like the Samual Adams Black Lager recipe, please. And the Boston Ale, while we're at it.)

That would be nice, but I wonder if most brewers who make money off their product wouldn't be more inclined to keep the details secret in order to maximize their competitive advantage?

It's the clever marketing using the Open Source branding that makes this especially interesting. As you mentioned, it's likely to garner a fair amount more attention than what normally accompanies the introduction of a new brew on the market, unless you're one of the big major breweries with millions to spend on advertising.

Cheesefood said:

I think someone just wanted to slap the OpenSource label on something unusual in hopes of drawing attention.

Click to expand...

Love the concept as a put down.

Paris Hilton is so OpenSource.

olllllo said:

Love the concept as a put down.

Paris Hilton is so OpenSource.

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Don't you mean OpenThighs?

He may have meant OpenSores...

I thought you had to be well above the 6 figure income bracket to deveop any input to Paris Hiltons source code.

I brewed an extract variation of the "Free Beer" 1.0 a few months back. Honestly, I didn't care for it. Obviously there's a little lost in the AG to extract translation, but I feel I didn't screw it up too bad.
The caffeine kick from the guarana beans was an interesting development. After 2~3 beers* you start to get a little jittery.
As for the open source-ness of it. It all goes back to the old saying "Free as in speech, not free as in beer." Some Norwegian (?) students as a project decided to put together a recipe and license it under the Creative Commons License, thusly making it free as in speech AND free as in beer...but more free as in speech. Anyone is allowed to take, use and modify the recipe, but any changes must be documented and be published in accordance with the CCL.
To argue Cheesefood's point "Arent' most recipe's Opensource" I would say most recipes are open knowledge whereas this recipe is actually protected under an open source license.
Just an IT guy's $0.03 <-- Adjusted for inflation

* Depending on your normal caffeine intake.