My latest CBC column, which ran April 30, popped up on the CBC site yesterday. In this edition I look at Imperial India Pale Ale (Double ‘I’ PA) and why they have gone from almost unheard of in western Canada a few years ago to being quite popular, with more than 10 available in the region. I start with a short history of the style, and how, like so many other styles before it, it was borne of a brewing mistake.

As for its new-found popularity, in short I argue that two trends have caused it. First, I suggest that the palates of beer drinkers are becoming more sophisticated – that more people are open to the acquired taste of hop bitterness and want to explore that end of the flavour spectrum further. Second, craft brewers are passionate and experimental by nature, leading, I think, to a desire to build complex, boundary-pushing beer. And the IIPA certainly fits that bill.

This column also nicely shows you the challenges of live radio, as I stupidly neglected to tell the listeners the name of the beer we were sampling on air. I mentioned it was from Paddock Wood, but completely blew past the all-important information that it is called Loki. Sigh.

At any rate you can listen to it here.