Hey Guys, great show. This is the Dan you called...(Hey, Rick)

OK, think 1979: What kind of beer was in the US market then? Standard, yellow beer. Then, Colorado's First Microbrewery came along and took a look at things and we produced Boulder Stout, Boulder Porter and other new beers.

Those are now standard.

A looking glass is a mirror, right? So you look at things a little differently, the opposite of what everyone else is doing, and you go in that direction. That's what happened with Hazed & Infused...

It's now our number one seller -- which it sounds like you enjoyed in the Minneapolis airport.

It also has no category that it fits into among the Brewer's Association categories currently in use in the World Beer Cup and the GABF. I'm working on that.

Fun Fact: in 1982, at the first GABF there were 22 breweries (Boulder Beer among them) and 40 beers. In 2007, there were over 75 CATEGORIES. We would like to think that we've been an active participant in the development of those categories.

Now, about the Never Summer Ale...I'm glad it held up. I guarantee that the one you sampled is out of code. That's why you didn't pick up any spice in this winter warmer.

Great show! I would enjoy participating in another one, but we'd need to make an appointment, as I'm often away from my desk. This morning when you called I was at Denver International Airport, discussing the opening on August 1 of the Boulder Beer Taphouse in the main terminal there. Woo Hoo!

Cheers,

Dan Weitz, Marketing Tool, Boulder Beer Company

Good to hear you guys again. What did we miss here? Will there be a Memphis In May show? I was looking forward to hearing that.

Can I just say that your «Drunks in Space» skit was maybe one of the funniest things you've done? That was pure comedy. Loved it. Daniel Day who? Give Dick the Oscar already! That was a top tier performance.

Regarding that Never Summer Ale - was it a gruit? Gruit's are brewed with herbs and spices. Did it have any hops in it? Sounds good, either way. That herbed/spiced/vegetable beer category in the BJCP guidelines has always baffled me, because I never know what that is, exactly. I've had one gruit years ago, but have never seen it commercially available.

Cool that you included your call to Dan from BBC to find out about the Looking Glass series. I was going to ask if he ever called you guys back, but there's his comment above (great info, by the way Dan). I tried to dial that number you gave him and I got a busy signal. I think I missed the first few digits.

That was a pretty interesting experiment that guy did with the two Ommegang beers. Experiments like that, and vertical tastings - these are all of the things that I really dig. It shows the complexity of beer and it reminds us that beer is alive right up until we drink it.

Mike, I'm with you in your hatred of moles. They're nasty, destructive rodents. Sorry we moved in and forced them out, but it's survival of the fittest. I only wish they tasted beer - I'd eat them.

«No Country for Old Men» had an ending that irritated me too. I bought the novel by Cormac McCarthy and read it, hoping that there would be more answers there, but there wasn't really. But as I read I thought about it and I began to understand it more. It's not that our society has gotten more evil and hateful, it's just that as you get older, you become less capable of dealing with it in the way you could when you were younger. Thus, this is no country for the elderly. We have to leave it to the young people to handle justice. But that's what scares us - we're not sure they're capable of doing a good enough job.