Old Dock Street Brewery
Gladwyne, PA
Available: PA, NJ, DE
With this traditional Bohemian-style pilsner, the brewery is targeting a new sort of Bohemian, the young East-coast art and underground music community.
Alcohol (wt.): 3.58
Alcohol (vol.): 4.5
Color: 4.5
Bitterness: 10.5
Gravity: 1045
With such a specific geographic and stylistic name, I assumed that the brew would follow Czech tradition—on the malty side with plenty of hops to balance with the fruit. Unfortunately, that is not the case. The beer, brewed under contract in Utica, NY, is very light, with a head that disappears immediately, leaving a drab drink in the glass. The nose is bland, with little hop character. Consistent, the taste is clean but the flavor unexciting, and only a hint of malt in the aftertaste.
Extraordinarily pale colored, light bodied pilsner. While not quite in the Bohemian tradition, this pils is one to enjoy as a light lager beer with refreshing malt and hop character. Smooth and well-lagered flavor. Very low in overall hop character. More in tune with the modern revisionist quality-made Czech pilsners that are being produced by larger brewers.
Dock Street’s interpretation of a Czech pilsner has an exceptionally pale gold color—a true pilsner would be a tad darker with a hint of bronze. It has a stunning aroma of juicy malt, grassy hops and tart lemon fruit. The palate is dry with a rich grainy flavor balanced by spicy hops and a hint of tangy fruit. The finish lingers with juicy malt, lemon fruit and gentle but persistent hop bitterness. A beautifully balanced and quenching beer: perhaps a little more hop character would be true to style.
Founder of Merchant du Vin and the Pike Brewing Co., Charles Finkel is a pioneer in the marketing of craft beers in America.
Author of the New Complete Joy of Homebrewing, founder of the Great American Beer Festival and a Beer Examiner at www.examiner.com, Papazian is a leading voice in beer and brewing.
Roger Protz is the author of Complete Guide to World Beer and 300 Beers to Try Before You Die. He is a respected beer authority and editor of the CAMRA Good Beer Guide.
