Sumit Mehta, of Empirical Brewery, pours a glass of beer. View Full Caption Indiegogo

UPTOWN — Brian Busche wants the average Chicagoan to be able to create a new beer — ingredients, label, name and all — in the time it takes to drink a beer.

That’s the idea behind the virtual game Craft Your Beer, which Busche is developing with his startup team at 1871 in the Merchandise Mart. He's also raising money on the crowdfunding website Indiegogo for the project.

“All you have to do is like beer,” said Busche, who lives in Prospect Heights.

Jackie Kostek says the most popular beer ideas will become reality in small batches:

Busche said he has been mulling over the idea to crowdsource beer ideas for a “long, long time.”

The Craft Your Beer digital game will take players through a simple four-step process — choose a style of beer, select ingredients (including some unique flavor options), create a name for the beer and choose a label design.

After the player submits an idea and promotes it on social media, Busche and his team will choose the most popular ideas, and those will be produced in limited edition small batches by a local brewery.

Empirical Brewery in Ravenswood will produce the first group of winning brews.

“The Empirical method really involves taking customer feedback to really drive product development,” said Sumit Mehta, co-founder of Empirical Brewery, in a video posted on the game’s Indiegogo page. “This is why Craft Your Beer is the perfect fit for what Empirical represents.

Busche envisions a three-month game cycle — a new competition would begin every three months — that would likely be tailored to the seasons. For example, someone may have an idea for a malty, chocolaty beer that would be best suited for the winter months.

Busche is in the beginning phases of software development, but expects to launch the first iteration of the game in late November or early December.

Some of what Busche is able to accomplish depends on how much money he raises on Indiegogo. The campaign ends Wednesday evening.

By Tuesday morning, Busche and his team had raised nearly $7,000, almost halfway to a goal of $15,000. Unlike some crowdfunding websites like Kickstarter, Busche is using “flexible funding,” which allows him to keep the money that is raised, even if it falls short of the goal.

“Whatever total we get to, I’m going to do it,” said Busche. “If the game does really well, we won’t be hindered by a lack of money in the end.”

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