In honor of the season four finale of ‘The Walking Dead‘, Philadelphia-based restaurant and brewery Dock Street decided to show their love for the acclaimed zombie show in a special way. Brewers Justin Low and Sasha Certo-Ware concocted Dock Street Walker, an American Pale Stout with cranberries for a bloody hue and smoked goat brains. That’s right, brains and beer. Sounds appetizing right?
Since Dock Street is a favorite spot for me (especially for dates) that has exceptional beer and delicious artisan pizza, I decided to head down to West Philadelphia with my friends from The Pretentious Film Majors to find out what the Dock Street Walker is all about. Justin and Sasha joined me for a brief discussion about the inspiration behind the beer, what went into choosing the types of brains to use, and the fan reactions to their newest brew, both good and bad. Naturally, we also got to sample some of the beer as well with some play-by-play analysis of the flavors we tasted. Have I mentioned lately how much I love my job? Anyway, you can see all that and more in the video below, followed by the official description of the beer:
Dock Street Walker (7.2% ABV) is an American Pale Stout, brewed with substantial amounts of malted wheat, oats, and flaked barley for a smooth, creamy mouthfeel. Fuggle hops provide delicate, earthy notes, while the cranberries create a sinister, bloody hue, and a slight tartness. The pre-sparge-brain-addition provides the beer with intriguing, subtle smoke notes. In true walker fashion, don’t be surprised if its head doesn’t hang around forever.
As both a fan of craft beer and ‘The Walking Dead,’ I definitely enjoyed Dock Street Walker. Before walking into this interview, I was half-expecting chunks of brains to be in the bottles like you’d see a worm in a tequila bottle. But after trying it (and realizing that there weren’t actually chunks of brain in my beer), I came to really enjoy it. You get a lot of the cranberry notes with a hint of smokiness from the goat brains. Whenever they brew more, it is highly recommended that you snag yourself a six-pack to compliment your next ‘Walking Dead’ watch party before they wander off the shelves once again.
