Populist IPA with Curry

July 10th, 2013

The Beer: Populist

Type: American IPA
Brewing Company: Eagle Rock Brewery
ABV: 7.0%

The Food: Curry

Details: Curry from Shangri-La in Rohnert Park, CA. Tried both the Spicy Chicken Curry and Spicy Lamb and Potato Curry.

Populist IPA with Curry Review

The beer was great, the curry was great, the two together were great.

Populist IPA is brewed by Eagle Rock Brewery in Los Angeles, CA. Eagle Rock Brewery describes the Populist IPA as “an IPA huge in hop flavor and aroma without lingering or overpowering bitterness.”

This was my first experience with Populist IPA and being from Northern California I tend to think of an American IPA as a beer with a huge hops profile. I was a little surprised with my first sip of Populist as it was much smoother and more well-balanced than I had expected. It was a pleasant surprise, and I did enjoy the beer but I could have had a bit more hop flavor.

The food we tried with the Populist IPA were two different types of curry. We tried both a chicken curry and a lamb and potato curry. In both curries, we opted for the spicy versions. Both types of curries were delicious and we would definitely have them again.

The big question is: how was the beer with the food? The answer is: great. If you haven’t had an American IPA with curry before, you need to try it. Curry and IPA is almost always a great combination and this case was no different. The spiciness of the curry seemed to add a bit of spiciness and extra bold hop flavor into the beer to give it the exact taste I was hoping for.

The surprising part is I was expecting the chicken and the lamb to have slightly different effects with the beer but they really made no difference. The flavor of the curry is so powerful that any type of meat still seems to taste good. I haven’t tried it but it seems the curry with any dish, even a vegetarian curry, would still go great with this beer.

Overall, this was a great pairing and definitely worth trying.

Tags: chicken curry, eagle rock brewery, lamb curry, populist
Posted in American IPA, Curry | No Comments »