Free Beer That's Free as in Speech

darkonc writes "The CBC has notes and an interview with Dane Rasmus Nielsen who decided to reduce the confusion between 'free as in speech' and 'free as in beer' by making a beer free -- in speech. The result is Vores Oel, an open source beer. The CBC site includes the recipe for the beer which is made with Guarana beans, and gives it a bit of a caffeine-like hit. The danish site downloads include the label for the beer (which is also Open Source)."

Comments

reduce the confusion?

[xlyz]

... or increase it???

Re:reduce the confusion?

[hobbit]

Yup. Not that it isn't already confusing enough:

Me to friend not well-versed in libre: "No, that's free as in beer."
Friend: "Beer isn't free."
Me: "Well, no. But when it is, it's free-as-in-beer."
Friend: "Er, right. Suddenly everything becomes clear-as-in-mud."
Me: "Actually it recently got a bit more complicated..."

Free-as-in-speech beer is all well and good, but I'd really like to see some of this free-as-in-beer beer that everyone talks about.

Re:Coming from an ameteur brewer..

[datafr0g]

Whenever I complained about some open source app not doing what I wanted it to, some dude would always come along and whine something like, "it's free, it's open source - fix it yerself"....

Ahem... (clears throat)

"Quit complaining! it's free, it's open source! Fix it yerself"

But seriously, I agree - it definitly doesn't look ready for a version 1.0 release right now.

:-)

Beer is already free (as in speech)

[Trurl's Machine]

Sorry folks, but that's just plainly stupid. All IP issues with recipe for beer should be settled with Hildegard of Bingen. This German Benedictine nun was the first author to suggest that adding hops to the disgusting fluid hitherto known as beer will be generally a good idea. Since the age of Hildegard (12 century), no significant progress has been made in this topic - she has described the beer as we know it today. And as it was with many medieval philospophers, Hildegard created her "intellectual property" just "ad maiorem Dei gloriam", feel free to copy for the greater God's glory. So there is no need to make "open source beer" today - it was open source since last eight centuries.

Personally, I think the idea of adding guarana to beer is just plainly insane. Beer is meant to relax people. If I want to stay alert and awake I can drink coffee or energy drinks. Beer is something to drink when the work is over and you can relax. Guarana beer is like coffee with sleeping pills.

Re:Coming from an ameteur brewer..

[kailoran]

It's simple - you fork. OSB-Lager, OSB-Ale etc...

Re:caffeine LIKE?

[shawb]

And the caffeine in coffee and chocolate ISN'T natural? Natural != healthy. The nicotine found in tobacco is perfectly natural: the plant makes it as an insecticide. And even though it's perfectly natural, I doubt snake venom beer would be very good for you (okay, okay, it has been found that small doses of certain snake venoms can actually help patients overcome certain disorders, but in general, not a good idea.) Or how about a nice tetrodotoxin saki? It's made from the all natural pufferfish, a Japanese delicacy.

And then there's the fact that guarana has not been evaluated by the FDA for safety, effectiveness, or purity. All potential risks and/or advantages of guarana may not be known. Additionally, there are no regulated manufacturing standards in place.

Now, the caffeine in guarana beans is generally disgested much slower than in, say, a cup of coffee. However the effect when you grind up the bean and mix it with a carbonated alcoholic beverage would probably be to extract the caffeine directly into the liquid, where it can be digested quicker. Not that I'm against mixing caffeine and alcohol within moderation... just as long as you know what's going on and understand that, yes, you are taking risks.