No Mush Without The Push!!

One of the many new ideals my 17K has paid for this fourth and final year. I started to short change this day, but this rotation lived up to its expectations and then some. My preceptor, we'll call him D-dub, to protect the innocent, is a master of clinical knowledge and mental annihilation of his students. Today's weather is a metaphor for this month in IM, mentally I had prepared myself for the 15F bitter cold with windchill of 4F, I was strong and resilient. But when it came time to step from my warmed silver tiger tamer the awesome force of the strategic numbing cold struck away at my codsack relentlessly. Yeah, that's exactly my month. Having said my peace I learned that:
1. You don't chase an NH+3 level even if it is 591 as long as the patient has no AMS
2. Tap water enemas of 150-200mLs or lactulose 300mLs in 1L of H2O is not only easy but good clean fun for the nurse and patient
3. Doctors don't always know their drugs
4. There is a difference between "pimping" and "grilling" students, during grilling you feel as though you have been eaten alive, not just "hoed" out
5. *Drumroll please*, your preceptor does want you to feel loved, just not by them and you can't start anything with anyone else because it's like cheating on them;)
This month every time I have reached into the fridge, I've heard the collective sigh of the specialty six-pack I bought at the New Years when it's the chocolate milk I pull out because I simply can't spare the neuron. Today, when I looked in I realized that it's nothing that a banana bag times 3 days and PRN ativan won't take care of. They scream, "Yes, we'll give you transient gastroenteritis!! We may cause your AST to be at least 2x your ALT in the short run because in the long run your liver won't be able to mount that kind of response, and we can cause hypertension/tachycardia due to central nervous system dehydration. But hold us, we'll make you happy, you'll see." So tonight Brooklyn Winter Ale is my hemlock and Gurkha Reserve Perfecto #2 is my firing squad smoke.

Brew Batch #19 REINKE'S REVENGE 2006

Reinke's Revenge 2006 went to bottle this morning with the help of PhatDaddy of the Montgomery chapter. We got 2 Grolsch pints, 1 clear and 47 wonderful long-neck brown in standard black crowns. FG 1.022+0.00 @62F giving this one a higher content than last year 8% (as opposed to 7.7%, I believe). this may be due to the fact that I let this one ferment all the way for 2 months. I must say I have this recipe under my belt fairly well even though I only make it once a year. We'll crack one open in a month to see how it's doing.

Stout Mouth Effect

Ever wondered what I was like when stout mouth was in full effect and it was St. Patty's Day?
Juggernaut

Our Tastes-- Jack's Pumpkin Spice Ale

I've been drinking this all season and have just now started to get to the end of the stash my mom of the Beat-12 chapter got me. Anheuser-Busch made a good move bringing this one to the bottle since originally it was draught only. My stout mouth is in full bloom right now, but I dip into the unknown for tasters. A-B is trying to cut into the micro market a little with this one and doing a damn good job. For a pumpkin ale, the pumpkin, clover, nutmeg and cinnamon come through nicely. It has a great copper color and boastful aroma with the addition of Hallertau and Saaz hops. They use Golden Delicious pumpkins from the Stahlbush Farm in Oregon. Tall fluted glasses are the best way to serve this one due to it funneling the aroma straight to your nose. The 5.5%abv doesn't hurt either.

Our Tastes-- Montgomery BrewPub Double Barrel Stout

Well I attended a wedding yesterday afternoon in part to see an old friend wed and meet a girl. After the wedding, most of us went to the Montgomery BrewPub where Jamie Ray, the same brewer for Olde Auburn AleHouse works. Well the guy behind the bar told me Jamie had a special brew on tap that you had to ask for which was his double barrel stout aged in Jack Daniels barrels. This is one awesome seasonal. There is only one seasonal tap for Jamie to mess with at The BrewPub (it's not like the AleHouse). The double barrel stout was as dark as night but had a great blend of roasted malt that didn't give it that overly coffee flavor. It had little to no head and had to be pushing the 6% mark. By the end of the night I had 6 pints of this stuff and managed to get the girl I met to at least try it even though she is a self proclaimed non-beer drinker which in itself was sexy (her trying the beer). The night was marked with several other comical happenings including me silencing the WHOLE bar with the ole "raise you hand in the lunchroom to be quiet" maneuver. I swear the things you have to do to get a bridesmaid to go out with you!! Hopefully it will be worth it, but the beer sure was good.

A True Story I Had To Share

DUI - NORTH CAROLINA STYLE

Only a person in North Carolina could think of this. From the
County where drunk driving is considered a sport comes this true story.


Recently a routine police patrol parked outside a bar in Kinston,
North Carolina. After last call the officer noticed a man leaving the
Bar so apparently intoxicated that he could barely walk.
The man stumbled around the parking lot for a few minutes, with
the officer quietly observing. After what seemed an eternity in which
He tried his keys on five different vehicles, the man managed to find his car and fall into it.
He sat there for a few minutes as a number of other patrons left
The bar and drove off. Finally he started the car, switched the wipers on and off-- it was a fine, dry summer night -- flicked the blinkers on
And off a couple of times, honked the horn and then switched on the lights.
He moved the vehicle forward a few inches, reversed a little and then
remained still for a few more minutes as some more of the other patrons' vehicles left.
At last, when his was the only car left in the parking lot, he
Pulled out and drove slowly down the road.
The police officer, having waited patiently all this time, now
started up his patrol car, put on the flashing lights, promptly pulled the man over and administered a breathalyzer test.
To his amazement, the breathalyzer indicated no evidence that the
Man had consumed any alcohol at all!
Dumbfounded, the officer said, "I'll have to ask you to accompany
me to the police station. This breathalyzer equipment must be broken."
"I doubt it," said the truly proud Redneck. "Tonight I'm the
Designated decoy."

Our Tastes-- 2005 Samuel Adams Utopias

This was a taster fully a year in the making and well worth it. Sam Adams Utopias 2003 is officially listed as the strongest beer in the world in the Guinness Book of World Records at 25.6%abv. BugMan1109 scored a bottle at a descent price last year when the 2005 series came out and we were able to actually have some on both an empty palate and after a mouth-watering slab of moo cow. I could go off on a mind numbing rant about what this beer was like ending up in a tangential plane off in time where my small snifter never runs empty and still not convey what this experience was truly like. NO carbonation in the 2 ounces I had. It had sugar legs like a wine when rolled around the glass. The aroma was strong alcohol on a soft bed of maple sweetness. A great taste of extreme malt, vanilla and oak barrel hits the side of your tongue. Utopias are bottled in a ceramic decanter with copper finish using 11 year old casks to blend it much like scotch. Three types of noble hops are used: spalt spalter, hallertau mittlefruh and tettnang tettnanger. A monkey ton of malts: crystal, moravian and bamberg smoked and a variety of yeast including a strain normally reserved for champagne. This particular batch has 25.4%abv and the bottle was 2740/8000.

The End of Another Era

Tonight BugMan and I downed the last of brew batch #3, sweet NBA (Nut Brown Ale) after a pumpkin ale taster. It was nice to finally send this batch on its way. For now all of the bottles are empty and I can do another batch just like it for spring. This batch was brewed way back on 6/26/04 and still had it. It was also my first batch away from the Marietta HomeBrewing Company (probably the best move I have ever made). I remember Keith helping me empty those bottles during a summer of kayaking on the Coosa. Salud.

Cotton Bowl Win!!

Well if winning over the Nebraska Cornhuskers wasn't enough, I got to drink some beer...a lot of it ...FOR FREE!!!!! Matt, Big D and I went to the Cotton Bowl and afterwards as Donna had been with the boys all day we all piled in 2 cars and headed to a place called Randy White's BBQ (this guy used to be with the Dallas Cowboys) which happens to have some pretty good BBQ, a little sweet for my taste but the hot and hotter sauce will fix you up just dandy. Matt told me that this place originally didn't have their liquor license so they were just giving away 3 types of draft Miller, Bud Lite and the Texas's own Shiner Bock. Well low and behold when they asked what I would like to drink, I said a draft beer and they poured up the iciest tall goblet of Shiner I had ever seen. Lauren kept them coming, Donna downed 3 respectable pints in no time and asked for a lap dance on my behalf:) So the sunburn and 40F weather was worth it. Thank goodness I was drunk when OU lost in overtime.