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Monday, April 28, 2008

I Can't Taste Anything

I hate this time of year. I have allergies to a variety of springtime pollen -- grass, birch, gum tree -- and the mild winter means they started about two weeks early this year. Usually I'm good till about May Day, but things have sucked since about the 20th. I took much medication to be in shape to judge at Manayunk on Saturday, and paid for it with cottonmouth afterwards.

So...not a lot of tasting notes for a bit. If I get a clear nose for an hour or so, which happens on odd occasions, I'll try to get one in, because -- bizarrely -- my nose is actually extra-sensitive during these periods...when I can manage to get some airflow over it. In the meantime, every beer just smells/tastes Phlegmish, as my friend Mike says. Whiskey's a little better, but it wouldn't be fair to do tasting notes except in those rare windows.

I hate this time of year. Just thought I'd let you know.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Phlegmish might just be the worst pun I've ever heard.

Anonymous said...

Lew, I have one word for you: Nasonex. Works a charm for me.

Anonymous said...

Lew-

wondering if you've been to Elk Creek Aleworks yet. I've seen others reviews of the place on this site but not yours. I'm in that area several times a year and really looked forward to it opening for a long time. Was there this past weekend, wanted to see if we have similar thoughts on the beers.

Lew Bryson said...

Nasonex, eh? What the hell, I'll try it.

Huh. You know, I've been twice, but I only talked about the stout in my Easter post. I ran the taps, and mostly enjoyed them quite a bit, but I never posted on it: just too damned busy. Might dig that out.

Anonymous said...

For itchy eyes try Patenol eyedrops from the doctor. Great stuff.

Steven said...

Interesting - I normally suffer the allergy hit in fall, but lately I've been noticing that beer just isn't tasting good to me. Maybe it's spring allergies?

BTW - Claritin usually works great for me when around cats & dogs, but it tends to mix badly with alcohol -- not making me stupid, just run down.

Lew Bryson said...

Yeah, there's evidently two cycles of pollen allergies: spring and fall. I happen to get the spring ones, have for as long as I can remember. I've tried Claritin, it doesn't do a thing for me. Taking nothing makes me feel run down, taking almost anything makes me feel stupid. Mostly I just blow my nose a lot and keep going; it's the itchy eyes and post-nasal drip that really bugs me. I'll have to see if I can get some of those eyedrops.

Anonymous said...

I also use Patanol for my itchy eyes and take Allegra (generic) for everything else. The nice thing about Allegra is it is non-drowsy, so I don't get the run down feeling. Still get the dry mouth thing, but I just have a beer and it seems to go away...

Dick said...

Lew, Can't believe, as a singer, that you don't know about Sinucleanse. Go to http://www.sinucleanse.com
I and many of my singers use it regularly because it doesn't dry out the vocal chords and really works.

Dick

Anonymous said...

Lew try the nose spray if your allergies are that bad. My mom uses it religiously and tries to push it on me, for my sinus/allergy problems, but I refused because nose sprays and eyedrops kind of scare me lol...

Anyway she gets free samples from the doctors office, I think it is Nasonex.

ahh pharmaceutical reps...devils in disguise? a topic for a different blog I suppose. :P

Lew Bryson said...

Dick,
One of the altos was talking about something in a pot...now I know what! This looks like a winner; I use saline sprays for sinus infections already, never thought of using it for allergies, and this whole 'flow' thing looks better than a spray.
Thanks!

Anonymous said...

I milled about 300 pounds of grain today while volunteering at a brewpub and I think all of the mucus in my head has become a sort of grain-based paste. So I can sort of sympathize.

Anonymous said...

Lew,
with regard to topical corticosteroids; they do wonders for drying you out--maybe too wonderful, so keep that in mind.
They also land on your olfactory bulbs, meeboy.
I've used almost all of them and the affect the smeller, therefore the taster.
But do try and see how it works for you.
BTW- Sinus flush is great done right.

Anonymous said...

Hey Lew, I know this is months old but I saw your blog here and wanted to share something I learned. Here is a link to a "foot map" http://solework.wordpress.com/the-foot-map/
Notice the blue area on the ouside of the big toes. Rub this area in a circular motion (keep in the same direction)
I have a rough cold/flu presently and doing this trick helps me eat with taste!