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May. 6th, 2005 11:39 am( class clown )
May. 6th, 2005
free as in BEER
May. 6th, 2005 02:53 pm( First let's talk about phenol. )
Okay, here's the deal. If I've ever given you free homebrew (and it's illegal to sell homebrew, so if I've handed you homebrew, it was free), but I've somehow given the impression I really need your approval or that I'm all too-weak for criticism...well that's just not true. I put my beer into a stiff competition judged by experienced pros and I'm not afraid of honest evaluation.
So if you get a free homebrew from me, it comes with a string attached: if there's an off flavor in it, say something. Even if you're not sure (maybe you're not a student of beer styles, like you have better uses of your time or something. By God, you ought to be repelled by a band-aid flavor though!) But if you're not sure, and something's weird to your palate, say so. Say, "huh. there's kind of a...a... I don't know... a fucking band-aid flavor in my beer. Is that normal?" Then I can go, "Really? Gosh, no, phenols are out of style for this beer. Mind if I taste that?" If it's a bad bottle, then I can go get you a different beer! Please don't tell me you think it's good just because you know I want you to like it.
They took the 'free as in beer' metaphor for certain kinds of software. Well, sometimes it works the other way: if you use my freebeer, and you detect a bug in it, report the freakin bug already!! Now I have to go check to see if my brewery has bad sanitation. I'm gonna have to re-do all the bottles (over 120 of them), all the fermenters and the tubing, maybe even replace some parts. Dang it. I'm worried about the two gorgeous batches I have in secondary fermentation now. 10 gallons of beer could be turning into mouthwash as we speak! Holy crisis on infinite earths, beerman.
Okay, here's the deal. If I've ever given you free homebrew (and it's illegal to sell homebrew, so if I've handed you homebrew, it was free), but I've somehow given the impression I really need your approval or that I'm all too-weak for criticism...well that's just not true. I put my beer into a stiff competition judged by experienced pros and I'm not afraid of honest evaluation.
So if you get a free homebrew from me, it comes with a string attached: if there's an off flavor in it, say something. Even if you're not sure (maybe you're not a student of beer styles, like you have better uses of your time or something. By God, you ought to be repelled by a band-aid flavor though!) But if you're not sure, and something's weird to your palate, say so. Say, "huh. there's kind of a...a... I don't know... a fucking band-aid flavor in my beer. Is that normal?" Then I can go, "Really? Gosh, no, phenols are out of style for this beer. Mind if I taste that?" If it's a bad bottle, then I can go get you a different beer! Please don't tell me you think it's good just because you know I want you to like it.
They took the 'free as in beer' metaphor for certain kinds of software. Well, sometimes it works the other way: if you use my freebeer, and you detect a bug in it, report the freakin bug already!! Now I have to go check to see if my brewery has bad sanitation. I'm gonna have to re-do all the bottles (over 120 of them), all the fermenters and the tubing, maybe even replace some parts. Dang it. I'm worried about the two gorgeous batches I have in secondary fermentation now. 10 gallons of beer could be turning into mouthwash as we speak! Holy crisis on infinite earths, beerman.