Today is the release date for Dogfish Head Bitches Brew, the beer brewed to celebrate the 40th birthday and reissue of the groundbreaking Miles Davis classic. It was first sampled by attendees at SAVOR — that is, anyone who wanted to shoulder their way through the throng of TV cameras and clamoring beer nerds for a 2-ounce taste of the sacred imperial stout. Not having been blessed with such fortitude, I missed out, but as providence would have it, NPR‘s jazz blog, A Blog Supreme, invited me over for a taste-and-listen session.

As we quaffed and contemplated how well the rich, honeyed stout paired with pulsing thrum of “Spanish Key” (which starts around the 47-minute mark, to give you an idea of our degustatory progress), I had a revelation. The act of drinking is by nature repetitive, at least insofar as that you’re taking sip after sip of the same beverage. So the ideal music to pair with a beer or wine is something meditative, something that locks into a groove, a song that hypnotizes you, lets sensory surroundings slip away leaving only a sky of piano chords, clouds of upright bass, rays of trumpet, a coffee-scented breeze…

OK, so we got a little carried away. Drinking Dogfish Head and listening to Miles Davis, what would you expect? Check out the whole tasting session on NPR Music.