A group of students at the IT University in Copenhagen, Denmark, has launched what it hopes may become "The Linux of Beers" - it has created an "open-source" beer by publishing its recipe and brand under a Creative Commons license.

Calling itself Vores Øl Group (Vores Øl is Danish for "Our Beer"), the group says it has created Our Beer "as an experiment in applying modern open source ideas and methods on a traditional real-world product."

According to google.com there is no other "open source" beer out there (except in fake news), and in any case there is no other beer, the group says, based on classic ale brewing traditions "but with added guarana for a natural energy-boost" - South American Guarana beans are a natural source of energy and health.

Our Beer is explained on the group's site as follows:

"The recipe and the whole brand of Our Beer is published under a Creative Commons license, which basically means that anyone can use our recipe to brew the beer or to create a derivative of our recipe. You are free to earn money from Our Beer, but you have to publish the recipe under the same license (e.g. on your website or on our forum) and credit our work. You can use all our design and branding elements, and are free to change them at will provided you publish your changes under the same license ("Attribution & Share Alike")."

The Creative Commons license means that the beer - Version 1.0 of which is a medium strong beer (6% vol) with a deep golden red color  - could be brewed and marketed by large companies. They would be  free to use the recipe at will - but they also have to comply with the licence and publish their version of the recipe under the same Creative Commons license.

"This requirement," explains the group, "is to keep the beer 'free' so everyone has the freedom to improve the recipe based on the work of others."

The group's hope is that the world's first open-source ale may in this way over time become "The Linux of Beers."