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Free (As In Speech) Beer, V2.0

AgentPaper writes "Three years ago we discussed an open source brewing project in which a Danish brewer made his beer recipes available for public consumption and alteration. The concept has taken off, first with the 'Free Beer Project' in Denmark and now with Flying Dog's 'Collaborator' Doppelbock in the US, which was created via input from home brewers across the world. One version of the Collaborator is commercially brewed and available for purchase (and is darned tasty), but you can download the same recipe and labels, brew it yourself, and submit your mods back to the project."

8 of 266 comments (clear)

  1. Not free for everyone by KDR_11k · · Score: 4, Informative

    In some jurisdictions you need a license to brew beer. I doubt that's included...

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    1. Re:Not free for everyone by jimicus · · Score: 4, Informative

      Like where? A licence to mix water, sugar and yeast? That's just about the stupidest thing you could ever require. My, my, what is the world coming to when people can't even get the ingredients in beer right.

      Water, hops, malt, yeast. That's all it is.
    2. Re:Not free for everyone by Faylone · · Score: 4, Informative

      Utah seems to require one, even for personal brewing, although if you're wanting to sell it commercially, I think you have to register with the ATF as they will want to TAX you. http://www.atf.gov/alcohol/info/faq/beer.htm has more info

    3. Re:Not free for everyone by Wizard+Drongo · · Score: 5, Informative

      Think that's bad?
      Ever since the English got control of Scotland, it's illegal to distill whisky without a (extremely expensive) licence.
      And what is Scotland most famous for?

      Literally, if I pay a few thousand pounds, I can have a licence to make as much whisky as is humanly possible. About $10,000 I think.
      Yet if I make 100ml of moonshine for my own consumption, I can go to jail for 10 years.

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    4. Re:Not free for everyone by MrHanky · · Score: 4, Informative

      Homebrewing beer is illegal in Alabama, for one. It can even get you into actual trouble.

    5. Re:Not free for everyone by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 5, Informative

      In most U.S. states, brewing beer for personal/family use is okay without a license. What's considered personal/family use? In most states, it's a LOT of beer. Like 200 gallons per calendar year by ATF regs -- this is the same for most U.S. states.

  2. Re:Missed half the point! by Xiph · · Score: 5, Informative

    When you make it yourself, it's close to half price of regular beer and often the result is better. For the experienced brewer often becomes almost always.

    When you brew beer commercially, it becomes very important to make same beer every time, and to make something which easy to consume.
    The consumer beer is lighter (in colour and taste), because that's what you can drink in large quantities.

    If you want beer full of flavour, the price goes up, or you have to make it yourself.

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  3. Free as in beer? by ChameleonDave · · Score: 4, Informative

    This sort of thing just shows how stupid the whole "free as in beer" v "free as in speech" thing is.

    Beer is not free "as in beer". You have the pay for the stuff. It is, on the other hand, something that anyone can make and sell in a traditional manner without worrying about infringing any sort of patent or intellectual property belonging to the ancient people who invented it.

    Speech is not free "as in speech". If I go and write a story about wizards called Harry and Dumbledore, I'll get sued. If I lie to your boss that you've been stealing from work and you get fired, I'll get sued.

    We don't need such weird terms. "Free" in the first sense is simply an abbreviation of "free of charge", so just don't abbreviate it if you want to be clear. The Latin term "gratis" is also well-known in English.

    If you absolutely insist on a term to specifically say the opposite, then "liber" is the perfect Latin counterpart to "gratis". There is also the derivative "liberal" which has several senses connected to freedom and generosity, and would be quite sufficient.