Beer Of The Week: Penrose Brewing's Fractal IPA

By Jason Baldacci in Food on May 10, 2015 4:00PM

Fractal is a Belgian IPA from the guys at Penrose Brewing Co. It pours a copper-golden color in the glass with a thick layer of off-white foam and has a pronounced aroma of citrus rind and floral spice. On the palate, you're hit up front with a punch of tropical hops that are matched with a bready, malt richness for balance. The Belgian yeast strain kicks in about mid-palate to lend a restrained fruitiness, with notes of mango and pear that ride through to the dry, floral finish.

At 6.8% alcohol content, Fractal is deceptively easy to drink, but still jam packed with both flavor and character. It will be a fantastic addition to the cookouts that are hopefully in our very near future.

IPAs are usually very difficult to pair with food, but the Belgian yeast in Fractal makes it friendlier than most. This beer could do very well with a number of things, even a salad course if there was citrus involved and a nice, acidic vinaigrette. Our ideal pairing, though, would probably be pork chops off the grill (bone-in of course, we're not idiots), with a little mango chutney to garnish and a side of spicy green beans. The hops in the beer would play off of the chutney, while the body and acidity would cut through the fat of the pork chop. If you don't feel like getting too fancy, a rack of ribs doused in BBQ sauce would also do just fine.

Fractal is available on draft and in 12 oz. bottles. Check beermenus.com to see where you can pick some up this weekend.