Art Burrows, owner of Ajax Design & Communications in Aspen, is the mastermind behind Polygamy Porter's advertising campaign. He penned the neoclassical-style drawing that graces Polygamy Porter's labels - a young man with one wife swooning into his neck and a gaggle of other women and children in the background. He also came up with the billboard message that some Utah legislators and church officials found so offensive. And he designed the Wasatch website, which shows a muscled man with several skimpily clad babes hanging off his biceps, under the "Why Have Just One!" slogan.
"A lot of influential folks in Utah would just as soon sweep this under the carpet," said Burrows, who admitted that it's nice to sit in Colorado and design an ad campaign guaranteed to draw attention and fire in neighboring Utah, where there are still an estimated 30,000 to 50,000 practicing polygamists, according to a recent Salt Lake City Tribune investigative series. "Here we can laugh about it. In Utah, not everybody can laugh."
Polygamy Porter has made the news at a time when questions are arising about whether a dearth of alcohol will dampen spirits at the Winter Olympics.
Olympic organizers say booze will be available at the Games. The Utah Alcohol Commission continues to tinker with exactly what kind of libations will be allowed.
This week, the commission approved permits for hot-buttered rum at the Olympic park, but nixed Irish coffee and hot chocolate with schnapps.
Polygamy Porter will probably not be found in Olympic venues. But Schirf said it will be sold in many locations outside the boundaries of the official Olympic sites, alongside his brewery's 2002 Unofficial Amber Ale, which is being brewed especially for the Games.
For now, non-Utahans can find Polygamy Porter beer and gear on the Internet at utahbrewers.com.