FREE BEER v4.0 ("Skands")

Okay, so who's the joker, eh??

When I got home from work, a mysterious box was waiting for me on my doorstep. "To: BrewReview.info, Attn: T.Bissel". From "1212 Maple St, New York, NY". No name, no zip code.

Weird! Maybe some brewer didn't care for me calling his pride and joy "Complete and utter shite!!", and has sent me a "gift". Bomb, or just a ziplock bag of feces?

I opened it up, and saw a single stubby 12-oz bottle, with the silly ass label, to boot. (I actually have version 4.0, but am waaaay too lazy to snap a pic of the label!)

Oh, now I get it. I think.

For folks not up on this idiotic scheme, this is a so-called "Open Source Beer Recipe" -- and yes, that's about as stupid as it sounds, no matter how many times you say it.

Let's have these wacky Danes explain this, shall we?

FREE BEER
is a beer which is free in the sense of freedom, not in the sense of free beer.

The project, originally conceived by Copenhagen-based artist collective Superflex and students at the Copenhagen IT University, applies modern free software / open source methods to a traditional real-world product - namely the alcoholic beverage loved and enjoyed globally, and commonly known as beer.

FREE BEER is based on classic ale brewing traditions, but with addded Guaraná for a natural energy boost. The recipe and branding elements of FREE BEER is published under a Creative Commons (Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5) license, which means that anyone can use the recipe to brew their own FREE BEER or create a derivative of the recipe. Anyone is free to earn money from FREE BEER, but they must publish the recipe under the same license and credit our work. All design and branding elements are available to beer brewers, and can be modified to suit, provided changes are published under the same license (”Attribution & Share Alike”)

(and blah blah blah, blah blah blah)

Yes, the recipe is so freakin' special and unique, that they are allowing you to brew this without paying them! And you can even sell your beer, too! Fuckin' brilliant!

Here's the prized recipe, for those curious. But don't change it without attribution! Mixing grain and hops and water and yeast is just like tens of thousands of lines of software code!

Well, someone online timed the delivery of this beer to my doorstep rather well, being April Fool's Day and all, so I might as well crack this open and see what the hell this actually tastes like.

Um, wow. I mean, really. Wow.

That's not me mumbling in awe over the sheer brilliance of this beer. No sir.

Rather, this is just a messy Brown Ale, with an added gimmick of the Guaraná. Of course, the entire "FREE BEER"/open source recipe concept is a gimmick, so it only fits to have the beer itself be gimmicky.

Strikes me as what a rookie Scandinavian homebrewer would make while trying to make a clone of a Nøgne Ø beer (the Nøgne Ø Brown Ale, for example, but most of the Nøgne Ø beers have that same vibe). A messy, somewhat thin and watery clone, to be precise.

Quoted to clock in with 32 IBUs -- but I'll be damned if they're in there or not. Not too sweet, thankfully, but not enough to work with (or in lieu of) the skimpy malt profile.

Someone went through the effort to make sure that this got to me on or around April Fool's Day, and obviously wanted the BrewReview.info treatment for it. Well, mission accomplished!

Dumb concept, that is not helped one iota by a dumb beer.
//TB