sitting here in the er at childrens...

This is my second trip Since December. Probably my fourth overall if memory serves... well fourth specifically to Children's Hospital in Minneapolis (the one on Chicago and 27th).

I almost have the protocol memorized, and am able to decipher a "good night" vs a "bad night". Little things like how quickly the doctor shows up, how quickly certain medications are ordered and administered.

Nobody wants to tell you you child is in danger, but after a couple trips to a place that specializes in children you start to pick up subtle clues. Some don't show up till after you child is on the mend. The doctors and nurses have a certain sense of relief, and you not sure why right away. Other clues, like a simple neb showing up within minutes of going to the ER room indicates yes there is a problem and it needs to be dealt with right now.

And every time I've been able to do the hardest thing... assure my daughter it's going to be o.k. I don't sugar coat it for her. I tell her there will be an IV, it will sting a bit. I agree with her that the neb mask sucks and let here know what a great job she's doing putting up with it.

But its a sad skill to be able to hide the worry and fear you have as a parent so that you child doesn't have more undue stress put on them.

Beer Review time...

Thanks to smithersmpls.com I came across a beer called Urthel Hop-It (the sponsor of  his team many years ago.) I went to Surdyk's and found out that Urthel makes several beers.

To explain...

Urthel is a contract brew labled as "Dutch with a Flemish Touch." What this means is that a woman by the name of Hildegard von Ostaden she started the Leyerth brewery but contracts out to a Flemish brewery to be able to meet demands. (I might not have my facts straight... feel free to correct me.)

The Urthel Hop-It is her verison of a Belgium/Flemish IPA. High hops with a touch of sweetness. The Urthel Triple is in the style of a Trappist Triple ale.

In Minneapolis you can find Urthel at Zipp's and Surdyk's

Today at Zipps I found the Quadrium, something I don't remember seeing before. Here is my opinion on it...

Color - nice dark copper color

ABV - label says 11% and it does show up in the flavor

Taste - It's a sweet a.k.a. malty beer. Heavy on the toungue, very sweet and almost cloying. I agree with another review that the sweetness has almost molasses like flavor. For some it might be too sweet. In my case, even though I prefer "dryer" drinks, I tend to like strong flavors. So I actually like the flavor a lot. But... for good or bad you do taste the alcohol. I don't mind this (kinda a reminder it's a strong beer.) But others might view it as a negative.

I guess this is supposedly done in a Trappist quadruple style. Not a style I have a lot of familiarity with versus say a triple. From what I've found on line... besides alcohol content going up, a duple is sweet, a triple tends to be less sweet,  and a quadruple tends to be closer to barley wine. Which this version does come close too.

So overall sweet, high alcohol, tasty. But I tend to like the beers that Urthel is producing.

It is bottled conditioned so that helps. But... depending on transport and storage it can produce a lot of foam if you don't let it settle for a bit.

more info at www.urthel.com