The American Homebrew Contest, a promotion of the Boston Beer Company, will start accepting entries on April 15 this year.  The contest is a chance for homebrewer's to have one of their recipes commercially brewed by the makers of Samuel Adams. 

Brew up a batch that falls in line with the 2004 Beer Judges Certification Program Style Guidelines and mail your four bottles to the proper address and you're in.  Four winners from the first round of judging will go to this years Great American Beer Festival and one of them will there be crowned Grand Champion.  Sam Adams will later release a mixed six-pack containing various winning recipes from the competition.  There are Regional Champions as well as the Grand Champion(s). 

People have asked if Bottled Llama is going to enter the contest.  The answer is no.  My reasons can be found in this paragraph of the Rules and Regulations:

"The Boston Beer Company, will take the recipe and reproduce, as faithful as possible to the original recipe, on a professional scale with the help of the homebrewer.  If the product is brought to market and made available to American beer drinkers, the homebrewer will receive a one time royalty of $5000.00.  If you are the Grand Champion of the Contest, you agree to disclose your complete recipe to The Boston Beer Company and grant The Boston Beer Company all commercial and intellectual property rights to your winning beer, subject only to your right to receive the $5000.00 one-time royalty.  Entering the Contest, constitutes permission to The Boston Beer Company and its agencies to use your name, likeness, picture, signature, voice, audio and video recordings and biographical information in any manner or media whatsoever (whether now known or hereafter devised) anywhere in the world in perpetuity for the purpose of advertising and trade, without further compensation, unless prohibited by law.  The Boston Beer Company may withhold payment if it determines that the winner has behaved in a manner that is substantial and damaging to the Contest or to homebrewing."

So, it seems to me that if I win, they take my beer, my face, my voice and use it to make money off the awesome beer I would no doubt produce and I wouldn't get anything but an initial $5,000.  Now, if I wasn't interested in opening a brewery this might not be a bad deal.   However, I don't want Sam Adams to, you know, sue me or something for using my own face on my own beer from my own brewery because I'd won a contest.  So, I'll just stay right out of it.

Speaking of Sam Adams, I drank an Irish Red Saturday night.  For any who are interested, the beer is very complimentary with Papa Murphy's pizza, especially their Rancher pizza.