BeerBorg

Take your shot at becoming a homebrew legend.

https://www.samueladams.com/longshot

Most of the past winners have been beers with weird ingredients, so this definitely seems like a "brew something to stand out in a crowd" type of contest - IF you're entering in hopes of winning. If you're entering more for the BJCP feedback, the $0 entry fee is nice.

My favorite beer of all the longshots I've sampled (which isn't that many unfortunately) was a Cascadian dark ale that was too roasty for the style, but it worked nicely with the hops used. Too roasty was the only thing "weird" about it.

You know this is a fantastic idea, until you read Part III "The fine print".

The winner pretty much signs away anything that has to do with that championship beer for a mere $5000.00,
while Samuel Adams can continue to market a product you developed, with your name, likeness, audio, video so forth and so on.
Also, by my interpretation, if you decide to brew that recipe again, they can sue you for infringement, because they own the rights to it!
And if I read it correctly, they can literally use your recipe, just for entering the contest, whether you win or not.

That's a hell of a deal! And they are sure looking out for the "home brewer".

Sorry about the rant, but that struck me as pretty low. Basically they are using this contest
for R&D as I see it.

I kind of see it the same way. And I also read it that they can use it all just for entering the contest, whether you win or not. The other phrase in "The Fine Print" that I also hate is "in perpetuity". In laymans terms....For F'n Ever!!!! They are in, and you are out. No matter what!!!

Any corporate contests like this when you read the fine print you are basically giving away all your rights. The trade off is the recognition and publicity that you gain from it. And honestly the only thing you would need to do is change one ingredient like the yeast to create a "whole different" recipe.

When I met my barbecue guru, Steven Raichlen, at a book signing, I mentioned that I was a member of his Barbecue Bible online forum, and he asked me if I'd posted my recipe for my homemade Jack Daniels barbecue sauce.

When I looked at the site, I realized that, if I posted that recipe, it would become the property of the site. And I've only shared this recipe with one other person; my brother, and he knows how I feel about sharing it.

I'll share beer recipes (as you know). But my JD BBQ sauce recipe is mine! The rights to it will never be relinquished.

Although Louie makes a good point. Change the grain bill ever so slightly, or use a different amount of hops, or a different yeast, and you've got a whole new beer.