Zombies and brews are latest Benicia bedfellows

   (Originally published in the 10/7/15 edition)

   With the advent of “The Walking Dead,” zombies have become all the rage in the last few years. In that time, craft beers have also become all the rage. Therefore, it makes sense that these two things would coalesce, and they can both be experienced at the inaugural Zombie Brew Crawl in Benicia on Saturday, Oct. 17.

   Many communities have held zombie pub crawls where people dress up as zombies and walk down the street, hitting various bars along the way. The difference with Benicia’s event is that 17 First Street businesses- including Bookshop Benicia, Romancing the Home, Lindsay Art Glass and others- will be serving craft beers instead of the bars.

   “(The restaurants) would have to give up their regular ABC license for the day to participate, so we have the businesses,” Benicia Main Street Executive Director Nancy Martinez said.
   For the past three years, Benicia Main Street has hosted an annual wine walk and had its first St. Patrick’s Day brew crawl this year. After seeing other zombie brew crawls, Martinez thought it would be fun for Benicia.
  “Martinez has been doing zombie brew crawls for four years,” she said. “We investigated the different communities, talked with the executive director of Main Street Martinez to see how they go about it, and then we put our own little spin on it.”

   Benicia Main Street will be partnering with Fairfield beer distributor DBI to serve the beers, which will generally be seasonal IPAs and Oktoberfest-style ales. 

   Also, participants won’t have to worry about putting on their Sunday best. They will be encouraged to dress up as zombies.

   “We’re asking them to dress as zombies, but it’s not required,” Martinez said.

   Martinez believes the event could draw big numbers.

   “Because it is zombies, we expect this to be bigger than the Saint Patrick’s Day event,” she said. “But that was a sellout.”
   The event will take place from 2 to 6 p.m. along First Street. Participants will be given a sampling glass, a map of participating locations and an ID wristband at check-in.