Movie Tagline: There are two sides to every lie
How can two beers have the same name? Furthermore, how can two beers that share a name be so different? Is one of them an imposter? And, if so, which one? This week's pairing brings with it a slew of questions, as you can see. Questions about identity, dark family secrets, a web of lies, and possible foul play. That's because we're talking about the 2012 documentary The Imposter, which centers around French serial imposter Frédéric Bourdin, also known as "The Chameleon". In 1997, Bourdin assumed the identity of missing Texas teen Nicholas Barclay, first by impersonating a Spanish police officer who claimed to have found the child, and later by pretending to be Nicholas himself. Despite having brown eyes and a French accent (Nicholas had blond hair and blue eyes), he was taken in by the boy's family. He lived as Nicholas for nearly five months, even attending high school as him. All of which begs the question: How did this family not realize this wasn't Nicholas? The movie provides some answers. Those, naturally, lead to even more questions. There is closure, but no definitive proof of what really happened to Nicholas. But the movie is not about Nicholas. Not really. It's about the imposter. What could possess a man to do such a thing to a family that has lost someone? Is he being sadistic? Exploiting their grief? What does he get out of all this? Again, more and more questions. Here is what could be the most important question: What beer could possibly be paired with such a tale? What beer could conceivable match the complexity, the twists and turns, the drama of The Imposter? The answer, my friends, is Alter Ego. The problem, my companions, is choosing which Alter Ego. Should you go with the hazy, citrusy goodness of Tree House, or the dark, foreboding hoppiness of 4 Hands? How can you ever know that you have chosen the right one? Let's break it down, piece by piece, beginning with the Tree House offering. Basically a super citrusy Julius (thanks to the Mosaic and Amarillo dry hopping), this one pours a hazy golden color with a nice, fluffy head. The smell is like citrus overload, but in the best way. The taste follows suit, with a bitter backbone that holds it all together. This is a perfect example of the new and improved East Coast IPA, which is all about turbidity and dry hopping. They all smell amazing and look like a swamp. Anything could be lurking in those murky depths. But if you want true darkness, you have to go with the 4 Hands version. A Black IPA, this one isn't so much murky as it is completely dark and opaque. No light is getting through this one. You can definitely taste the dark malt in here, despite the prevalent piney hop characteristics and the faint notes of citrus. While medium bodied, it still finishes very dry and bitter. So, there you have it. Two beers. One name. Thankfully, they both go well with The Imposter and they are both very tasty, so you can't really go wrong. It's not like one of them is an imposter bent on erasing all trace of the other so it can more easily slide into its place, taking over its existence, until all memory of the original is forever lost in the ether of the past. I'm sure that's not the case at all.
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