FutureJack
Well-Known Member
No, it's not embracing home brewers. It's encouraging them to participate in a competition so you can steal the best recipe and then profit from it without fairly compensating the inventor of the recipe. How many homebrewers enter this competition just for fun, then "win" and get their 5,000 dollar check, and then realize that THEIR BEER now belongs to Sam Adams and Sam Adams is profiting in perpetuity on their beer.
If this was a licensing agreement I'd have no problem with it. If there was some kind of part-ownership of the beer itself and the profits therefrom, I'd have no problem with it. But that's not what it is. It's an effort to take advantage of the "Homebrew Cred" that Jim Koch has and outsource their R&D functions to the homebrewing community.
I cannot fathom how you came to the conclusion that Boston Brewing Company needs to outsource their R&D to eager homebrewers. Beer recipes are not some sacred cow - hence the reason so many breweries openly give out their recipes directly to their customers.
For a homebrewer who has invested no money - other than the cost of brewing a batch of beer - how do you think he or she should be more fairly treated than a wad of cash and his or her beer commercially produced and nationally distributed? Free R & D? Really?
I can guarantee you Sam Adams spends more money on their homebrew competitions than they ever recoup in sales.