Just Beerok It

With summer winding down faster than your kid sister's spin-caster hooked on a 10 lb dogfish, it's time at last to do the things, the thing, which suits summer best: drink a beer, read a book, yes, uh huh, Beerok. (And if you're new to Beerok here's a little 'what's up': good beer + good book + a few iotas of selective taste to match their characteristics = better, more intoxicating reading)

Aliens in The Prime of Their Lives by Brad Watson (W.W. Norton, $19.16, hardcover) and Palo Santo Marron by Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales (Rehoboth, DE) -- Watson's newest (which came out in March, btw) is a compact, remarkably pitched account of modern American life, that just miraculously manages to be as funny as it is darkly tormented. Oh and it's good. Really good. Written in such a way as to reminisce of Wells Tower, the short fiction of Irving Welsh and maybe John Cheever as well, Aliens is a really fun book that is funniest when it's not funny, wryest when looking most deeply into its already-deep and murky depths. (To give a sense of them, one of the best stories involve the obese, a traumatic brain injury, an artist-biker gang, a bb gun, and a man who has truly given up.) This is where Dogfish Head's delicious Palo Santo Marron comes in. Measuring at %12 abv, the Palo Santo is a 'malt liquor' Dogfish Head style, strong, unfiltered, aged in tasty Paraguayan Palo Santo Wood, and pushing some sweet vanilla and rich caramel notes to boot. A good match to Watson's exploration of the dark and weird for its own tormented character (playful, yet exquisitely crafted), its numbing qualities (the alcohol-rich part), and its exoticism of the familiar. A tasty beverage and a great book! Matched! Let us know what you think and don't be shy to try out your own!

xoxo