What makes a good pairing? Complementary ingredients. What makes a great pairing? Complementary ingredients that, while fascinating on their own, depend on each other so effortlessly that you wonder how they were ever separate. They elevate their counterparts in such a manner that you naturally begin to refer to them as a unified object more often than separate entities. Such is peanut butter and jelly, such is Simon and Garfunkel, such is a black IPA, and such is the pairing of our good friends Linc and Jenn.
Now that I’ve tricked you into reading a post about love, please allow me to elaborate. As I enjoy this Black Imperial India Pale Ale, I ponder the two distinct flavors that are generally kept as an independent focus in other brews: roasty maltiness and dynamic hoppiness. I’ve always been a fan of IPAs and was initially hesitant about allowing any outside ingredients to alter what I had come to believe to be the epitome of taste. But, trusting what I knew about IPAs, I became increasingly intrigued about the prospect of coupling them with another style of beer.
You see, IPA and I grew up together. IPA and I had recess together. I’ve been with IPA through the good and the bad. I’ve been in a band with IPA. I’ve seen IPA coupled with things that just didn’t make sense – fruit juice, peppers, bacon. But then came Jenn. She instantly meshed so well with IPA that I couldn’t help but to step aside and witness the story unfold. It’s a pairing that was simply meant to exist, and the world is a better place for it. (To clarify, Linc is IPA, and Jenn is black. I mean, the black part of Black IPA. Funny thing is, Linc hates IPAs. He’s generally ok with black, though, so this pairing is still legit.)
I leave this pairing open to each of you. Think about something made mutually perfect by something else and appreciate it for a while. Salud!