I feel I just have to draw your attention to this article from The Economist about the origin and growing global reach of India Pale Ale, that hoppy, high-alcohol nectar of the gods.
How does this relate to Montana, the purported focus of Last Best News? Well, I was just speculating with a few friends the other day on the origin of IPA—since one of our party had just returned from a Foreign Service stint in India—and we were in Montana at the time of the conversation! In the news biz, that’s what they call the local angle.
Also, if any more justification is needed, Montanans are famously fond of craft beer, and Billings is fortunate in having no fewer than seven brew pubs. But mostly, the article is just damned interesting, and it includes this great line:
“Whether a beer already existed that had the characteristics of IPA or whether it was developed for the purpose is a matter of heated debate among beer historians.”
If there’s anything I’d love to be part of, it’s a heated debate among beer historians. The tragic footnote to all this is that IPA apparently was the culprit that sparked my beer allergies a few years ago, with the result that I can drink IPA only rarely, and in very small quantities. Making this article all the more poignant.
