The Beta Podcast

Well, here's something new. Patrick Emerson--OSU econ prof, erstwhile beeronomist, drinking crony--and I have started a podcast. It was his inspiration, and against all odds, we actually sat down and figured out how to make one of these things and got around to recording one. We're hoping to keep them to a half hour, but the first one ran 36 minutes. (Not bad.) If you have 36 minutes to spare, I'd love to have you listen to it and offer some feedback. The notion is that we'll tackle one issue per pod, look at it from the beery side (me) and the econ side (Patrick). We'll probably taste beers, and we hope to have some kind of questions/feedback section. This is fairly close to what we drew up. Have a listen:

A few notes and questions:

• The music comes from Barcelona's Freak Fandango Orchestra. Yes, they're awesome; yes, they allow you to use their music for free.
• We sort of punted on the name, and I'm not super psyched about it. The "Beervana podcast" ain't entirely original, and I'm not sure it's particularly descriptive. For one, we'll be surveying the world of beers, not just Oregon, and for two, it has the economics element in it. Any ideas would be most appreciated. I'll send a bottle of something tasty to anyone who cracks this nut.
• Yes, we're amateurs. This is part of the allure, but yes, we do hope to improve.
• We intended to answer some of the questions people asked on Facebook but, in the one major blunder of the podcast, forgot.
• Tell us what you thought, what worked, what didn't, and anything else that springs to mind. Many thanks--

Now back to your regularly-scheduled slow blogging.