Presenting Dock Street Walker: Mmm… Brains

So it seems that we’re not the only ones throwing a Walking Dead finale party this weekend. The crew over at Dock Street–who are also big fans of the show–are doing a bash of their own on Sunday at 7pm. And while they might not have lobster tails and cakes in the shape of human hearts, they do have live music, a screening of the finale, and something totally cool that we don’t have: A beer inspired by the Walking Dead, to drink while you’re watching.

Dock Street Walker (which, not for nothing, is one of the better beer names I’ve heard recently) is a limited-run, never-before-brewed American pale stout brewed with wheat, oats, flaked barley, organic cranberries and smoked goat brains. And lucky us, we got a couple bottles sent over to the office so we could try it.

First things first? It’s a really good beer. One of those where, halfway through, you’re saying to yourself, “Yeah, I could drink another one of these.” So to Dock Street’s credit, while this is absolutely and completely a stunt beer, it’s also a good stunt beer, which puts it in rather rarified company.

Okay, so with that out of the way, let me say that almost all the stuntiness of it is basically confined to the label. It doesn’t taste of cranberries at all, except for a vague tartness that’s almost completely buried under the strong hops. They do add a “sinister, bloody hue” as the press packet suggests–meaning that it’s awfully red for a stout–but if you’re drinking it out of the bottle (as I was) you can’t see that at all.

And the brains? Yeah, I tasted a bit of smoke. It was nice–giving the whole thing a solid base of flavor. But it’s not like there were chunks of gray matter bobbing around in the bottle or anything. They worked in concert with the grains (heh–grains and brains…), giving the beer a weight of flavor without making it heavy like a traditional stout. But again, there was nothing brain-y tasting in the beer. No weird cannibal sensations. No strange feeling of drinking an elixr made from the thinking machinery of another higher mammal.

Dock Street Walker is, in all ways, a cool one-off from some guys who really dig craft beer and zombies. (And that label? Also super-cool and done by local artist Alexis Anne Grant, who obviously has an eye for the living dead.) It’s perfect for drinking while watching the season finale (and they’re offering growlers for those who want to take some home to watch the replay on DVR) and, frankly, not a bad choice for kicking back and watching some old episodes of True Detective or Game Of Thrones either.

Dock Street Brewing [Official]