"If we survive today, I want alcohol." To be fair, that was frequently his reaction after dealing with Newt. And considering that keeping Newt in mind was what was helping him get through this... yeah. Alcohol was almost certainly going to be necessary.
It was also incredibly disconcerting because he'd mellowed in the three years he'd been in town. Well, the Hermann Gottlieb version of mellowed. Mostly just translated to being slightly less cranky and judgmental.