Hercules Double IPA with Cassoulet

July 17th, 2013

The Beer: Hercules Double IPA

Type: American Double / Imperial IPA
Brewing Company: Great Divide Brewing Company
ABV: 10.0%

The Food: Cassoulet

Details: Used the quick cassoulet recipe and cooked with Hillshire Farms smoked sausage.

Hercules Double IPA with Cassoulet Review

The beer was great, the cassoulet was good, the two together were fine.

The Hercules Double IPA is advertised as being “not for the faint of heart. It is, however, fit for the gods.” Now, how can you turn down a beer that is fit for gods?!? On a more serious note, Great Divide Brewing Company also says that the Hercules Double IPA’s “hefty backbone of nutty, malty sweetness balances its aggressive hop profile”.

I thought the Hercules Double IPA was great. The malty sweetness truly did a great job of balancing out the hops. The beer had a delicious mixture of malt and hops rushing through your mouth with each wonderfully balanced swig.

The food we decided to try with the Hercules Double IPA was cassoulet. I had never heard of cassoulet before so I really wasn’t sure what I was getting in to. Cassoulet was a recommended pairing on the brewer’s website so I decided to give it a go and it was surprisingly good! I was happy with how it turned out, it was pretty simple to cook and it tasted good.

The big question is: how was the beer with the food? The answer is: fine. The two tasted good together though they seemed pretty much the same as they did individually. It definitely wasn’t bad but didn’t seem to make much of a difference. Overall, it was a good pairing and one that I would gladly have again, though I wouldn’t make it a priority.

Tags: great divide brewing, hercules
Posted in American Double / Imperial IPA, Cassoulet | No Comments »