Beer Spotlight!

Bingo ReCooperator

$15.99 for the 16oz four-pack cans
Bourbon/Port Barrel-Aged Doppelbock

We know what you’re going to say. There’s no way we can find a drinkable bourbon barrel-aged beer for this summer heat. You’d think not, but … Bwa-ha-ha-ha!

Richmond’s Bingo Beer Company has re-released its barrel-aged Doppelbock, the ReCooperator. (See what they did there? ‘Cause Doppelbock names traditionally end in “-ator,” and barrel makers are coopers — Eh? Eh? — little joys for both beer and word geeks.) This year they change up the barrels.

The ReCooperator starts with a Doppelbock made from Munich malt. It’s bready and nutty and full of enough flavor to handle barrel-aging but still light-bodied enough that you don’t forget it’s a lager. With this base brew, Bingo turns to a combination of both bourbon and port barrels from A. Smith Bowman Distillery in Fredericksburg — some Virginia spirits for our Virginia beer.

So, the Doppelbock is complex; you’ve got two types of barrels … there’s a lot going on here. However Bingo subtly brings the various flavor strains together with the bourbon and port aging adding fruit-like notes to the bock.