Special Beer Review - Regensburger Spital Brauerei

I had visited the Regensburger Spital Brauerei while home on R&R last year (You can read about it here) but I didn't really review the beers. So here's an opportunity to correct that, especially since I liked the beer when I had it in the restuarant.  The label proclaims it to be the oldest brauerei in Regensburg.  It's a shame that I'm probably not getting back down there since they have several other varieties that I wasn't able to pick up.

Regensburger Spital Helles - This beer pours a brillant golden amber with a what seemed to be a thin head that dissolved quickly, although there were generous amounts of lacing left on the side of the glass.  The aroma was very subtle and missed my nose.  The taste though was a pleasant surprise perfectly balanced with a hint of citrus, I actually had to check to make sure I hadn't picked up a Radler by mistake.  The finsih was wet with just a hint of bitterness and left you wanting another drink.  Yep, just as good as I remembered it from R&R.

Regensburger Spital Dunkels - This beer pours a dark amber brown, almost a black with hints of amber.  The generous beige lasted awhile before dissolving into lacing that coated the side of the glass.  The aroma is of malts and sweetness.  The taste is chocolately sweet with maybe some hints of coffee?  The finish has a touch of bitterness but not overwhelming, just enough to counter the sweetness that the beer started with.  Probably a little stronger than your typical dunkel but definitely not bad.

Regensburger Spital Weizen - This beer pours  the typical cloudy golden amber of a weizen.  The head is generous and lasts a while and leaves lacings that stubbornly stick to the sides.  The aroma is of cloves and spices, while the taste is of cloves spices and definite hints of bananas.  There is just a touch of bitterness in the finish.  An interesting weizen since there is probably a more powerful flavor of cloves and bananas then what I've typically seen. 

Regensburger Spital Pils -   I found this in a .33L bottle, although I think it does come in a .5L bottle.  It pours a brillant clear yellow gold with a generous white head that dissappeared fairly quickly with only some lacing on the sides.  The aroma is definitely hops.  After the aroma I expected this beer to taste very hoppy and bitter.  I was surprised, hoppy yes, bitter no.  In fact there are hints of other spices in the flavor.  A slightly different take on what I'm accustomed to from a German Pils and I actually like it. 

One of my favorite steinkrug's, plain but distinctive looking.

Marathon Training Plan

Here is this week's Training Plan.

Week	M	T	W	T	F	S	S	Total
12	Rest	2 miles GP 4x2 miles T (2:00) 3 miles GP	3 miles 6x100 S	90-minute run, including 8:00–10:00 TUT	Rest	4 miles	19 miles	45–51 miles

Marathon Training Plan

Here is this week's Training Plan.

Week	M	T	W	T	F	S	S	Total
11	Rest	2 miles GP 4x2 miles T (2:00) 3 miles GP	3 miles 6x100 S	90-minute run, including 8:00–10:00 TUT	Rest	4 miles	18 miles	45–51 miles

Special Beer Review - Schlossbrauerei Hirschau

This week is one of the local breweries, located about 15 minutes down the road from our house is the Schlossbrauerei Hirschau.  Even though it's only 15 minutes away.  I have to drive it to get the beer.  The local Getrankemarkts don't carry.  That should give you an indication of how regionalized some of these beers are.  It should also explain some of my excitment when I come across another new beer and those discoveries are really what I'm going to miss when we move back to the states in a couple of months.

Here is a picture of the castle inn that's associated with the brewery.

The crest on one of the brewery buildings.

The loading dock area.

Schlossbrauerei Hirschau Radler - I'll start with the Radler here.  It pours much darker than other Radlers I've had lately, almost the pale gold of a helles, and has a little more of frothy white head.  Does this mean it has a little more beer in it?  If so then it doesn't manifest itself in the aroma or taste.  The aroma is all lemon with maybe just a hint of hops lingering underneath.  The taste is pure lemon and is a good break from beer.  I had this one on a day where I'd already had several beers and this was a refreshing break.  I'll probably ride out to Hirschau and stop and have a Radler or two when I do.

Schlossbrauerei Hirschau 1812 Original - This is the helles from Schlossbrauerei Hirschau.  The body is an amber gold with a thin head that quickly disappeared.  The aroma is subtle and eludes my sniffer.  The taste is crisp and more hops than malt.  The finish definitely carries a reminder of hops. While not a Pils I'd say that it's hops level almost approaches Pils level.  I'm not a fan of hoppy beers.  I prefer more balance and I normally get that in a helles.  Not here though.

Schlossbrauerei Hirschau Johannibier  - I'm not sure what kind of beer this is, I think it might be a bock, maybe?  What I am sure about is that it pours goldish orange with a generous off white head that hung around for awhile and continued to leave lacing down the sides.  The aroma slight but I can detect the malts.  The taste is slightly sweet with more malt than hops and leads to a dry finish.  Pretty tasty and a very interesting beer.

Schlossbrauerei Hirschau Hirschauer Spezial - A Dortmunder or Export type beer.  It pours a cloudy orangish yellow with virtually no head.  The aroma is underwhelming and eluded my sniffer.  The taste is malty with sour undertones and a shadow of hoppy bitterness.  The finish is dry and demands another drink.  An interesting brew.

Schlossbrauerei Hirschau Pils - The German Pils offerring .  The body is not as pale as some other Pils coming in a more golden color, slightly reminiscent of apple juice.  The head on this Pils was non exsistent, not even any lacing on the sides. The aroma was hoppy and earthy.  The taste was only slightly hoppy even for a Pils, slightly surprised there.  German Pils tend to be too hoppy and bitter for my taste but this was pretty mild, almost closer to a helles. 

Schlossbrauerei Hirschau Leicht - This is no reduced calorie offering.  When the Germans say Leicht it typical means less alcholol (sometimes it also just means ligher in color), so if you are looking for a good buzz steer clear of German beers that call themselve Leicht.  This one comes in with 3.0% alc.  It pours and looks much like it's Pils or Helles siblings and the head is thin and quickly disappears leaving lacing on the sides.  The aroma is malty and earthy and the taste is a well balanced between the malts and the hops with the hops showing up in the finish that lingers ever so slightly.  Once again another interesting brew.

Schlossbrauerei Hirschau Hefe-Weisse - The Hefe Weisse from Schlossbrauerei Hirschau comes in a slightly different bottle than it's lager and ale siblings, a longer necked .5l version instead of the short necked .5l bottle.  It pours a a dark brown/gold/amber, not dark like a dunkel weisse but not straw gold like some other weizen. The head is the standard frothy white though not as generous as some. The aroma is cloves and citrus.  The taste is stll cloves with a touch of citrus and overall is not a flavor explosion.  The finish is dry and leaves you wanting more.  This is an understated Hefe-Weisse, not bad just understated.

Schlossbrauerei Hirschau Festbier - I love Fests!!! At least that's what my son Macen says and I can't say that I disagree with him, maybe I like them for different reasons (it's all about the beer and the giant pretzels!!!)  but I still like them.  Schlossbrauerei Hirschau's Festbier or Marzan type beer poured a golden amber with a thin head that quickly disappeared with no lacing on the sides.  The aroma was sweet malty with just a hint of cut grass.  The taste was malty and slightly sweet with no hint of hops or bitterness.  The finish lingered slightly but wasn't bad.  A little less carbonated then some of the other beers not much of a tingle as I swirled around the mouth looking for taste.  

Schlossbrauerei Hirschau Keller-Bier Spezial - The final beer from Schlossbrauerei Hirschau is a Keller or Zwickl beer.  It pours a cloudy copper orange with a generous white head.  The head lasted a while gradually dissipating into white lacing on the sides of the glass.  The aroma was one of malts.  The taste was crisp and malty but with a tang of hops.  It finished dry, basically begging you to take another sip.  A pretty tasty brew.

Week 10 Marathon Training

Last week was decent week of training.  I missed Thursday's workout due my inability to get motivated, but I recovered nicely with a good weekend.  That's not going to happen this coming weekend, since we are planning on going to Oktoberfest with some friends.  Should be a good time.  On the plus side this weekend's workout is only a 10k at race pace and a light 6-8 mile run.  Depending on what time we leave Saturday I may get the 10k in.  Sunday's run depends on how many Masskrugs I have while we are in Munich.  We are taking the boys so I have to remain somewhat civilized or I'll have Shantel yelling at me.

Here is the workout plan:

Week	M	T	W	T	F	S	S	Total
10	Rest	1-hour run, including 2x1,200 C 2x400 SI	4 miles	4x800 S 6x100 S	Rest	10-K race	6-8 miles	32–34 miles

Special Beer Review Gunzburger Brauerei

When we went to Legoland a month ago I researched local breweries.  The one that popped up on most of my searches was Gunzburger Brauerei.  They specialize in Weizen but do other kinds as well.  I dropped into a local Getrankemarkt and picked up a variety.  I was slightly disappointed that I couldn't find a bottle of their Weizenbock, but it is what it is.  Here are the beers that I did pick up.

Gunzburger Radbier Marzen Spezial -  It pours a coppery gold with hints of amber. A slightly off white head never quite disappears and leaves plenty of lacing on the sides. The aroma is floralish and kind of sweet. The first mouthful is interesting, somewhat bready and definitely malty sweet Almost reminiscent of honey? Pretty interesting. The finish is clean with no after taste, a definite plus. I really like this beer, too bad I'd have to drive 2 1/2 hours to get more.

Gunzburger Weizenbier Ur~Weizen - This beer pours a dark cloudy honey-brown with hints of gold.  The head is a generous off-white/beige.  Already I'm intrigued  The aroma is faintly smoky malts.  The taste is carmally sweet malts. No citrus or fresh cut hay here.  The finish is smooth and wet with just that hint of smoky malts.  Very interesting.

Gunzburger Weizenbier Hefe~Weizen -   The regular Hefeweizen from Gunzburger.  It pours a a cloud yellow gold with a slight (for a Hefe) white fluffy head that quickly dissolves into a layer of tiny bubbles on the top of the beer.  Lots of carbonation, you can see the bubbles flowing from top to bottom of the glass in large clusters.  The aroma is of cloves and spices.  The first taste is citrusy, clovy, spices.  Cloves and another taste I can't put my finger on dominate the wet finish.  A pretty good beer.  But not my favorite Hefe.  I might have liked the Ur~Weizen a little bit more than this one.

Gunzburger Radbier Hell -   Finally the Helles from Gunzburger Brauerei.  A brillinat golden yellow with a head soft foamy head that persisted.  The aroma is very light and subtle and eluded me.  The taste is spicy balance of hops and malts with just a little kick of hops at the crisp finish.  A very tasty beer.

After running through all of these I'm even more disappointed that I didn't get the Weizenbock, their speciality.  All of these were solid good beers.  I really liked the Ur-Weizen and the Marzen.  Too bad the brewery almost a three hour drive away.

Week 9 Marathon Training

Last week wasn't too bad. As long as you overlook the fact that I skipped the long run on Sunday. I've got excuses though. It was raining and we had a kids birthday party to go to. Someone once told me that "Excuses only satisfiy those who make them". I guess you can count me satisfied. I did have good solid speed work all week, so I was happy with that. I've started doing some of it on the treadmill since it's getting darker and colder so that really helps to keep me on pace.
I've also gotten a new toy, a Garmin Footpod for when I'm relegated to the treadmill I can still get the mileage/time/HR data instead of just the time/HR data. It goes on my shoelaces or in the Nike+ holder on my Nikes.  I think I've got just about all of the accessories now for my Forerunner 305.

Enough talk of my cool toys.  Here is this week's training.  I will get the long run done on Sunday.

Week	M	T	W	T	F	S	S	Total
9	Rest	2 miles GP 3x2 miles T (2:00) 3 miles GP	3 miles 6x100 S	4x1 mile C	Rest	5 miles	17 miles	44–47 miles