Paulaner Oktoberfest bier

I'm back from Afghanistan for a little R&R and one of my regrets is that I missed Oktoberfest.  It didn't fit in with what Shantel and I had in mind for R&R though so it can't be helped.  I did have to listen to several days worth of some of my Soldiers regaling me with their stories from R&R and Okotoberfest before I left though and it made me extremely jealous. 

I did get home just in time though to catch a few of the Oktoberfest beers still on the shelves of the Getranke Marts.  So I had to try one.  The choice was easy since the Paulaner Oktoberfest beer came with a 1 liter glass mug to go with it.  I mean how could I pass that up.  A liter beer and a mug all for 1 Euro.  Here's what I thought of it.

This beer pours with a dark coppery tint and nice fluffy head that lasts about 5 minutes.  In essence it looks exactly like all of the pictures of the beers that those well endowed barmaids are serving to all of the revelers in Munich during Oktoberfest.

The aroma is fine balance between hops and fresh cut grass and the flavor is just as balanced with just a hint of hops and a slightly dry finish.  Most definitely a very drinkable beer.  I've enjoyed the the other Paulaner's I've had and this beer just reinforces that.

If you can't get to Oktoberfest find one of these Paulaner Oktoberfest Beers and a big glass mug and imagine you are sitting in a big tent in Munich.

5 Mile Route At The PHQ

Here's a screen shot of my 5 mile run route inside my compound in Afghanistan.  Notice all of the turns.  I have to do so many just to get one lap of .6 miles.  That's not even counting the 120 some steps that I either climb or descend during the route.  I'm actually hoping the steps help me gain more pedal stroke power.

Even if it sounds like I'm complaining I'm really not.  This route has some benefits.  The steps increase my calf muscles and hopefully my pedal power and I'm also running at about 5200ft eleveation.  I've done a couple of runs while on R&R and my average is about 10 minutes faster than Afghanistan so it is paying off. For now.  I'll be doing lots of turns and climbing lots of steps as I start training for Ironman Regensburg

I'm Back

For R&R that is.  I have been horrible about doing any posting from Afghanistan.  My excuse is that my work network won't let me go to the blog site and we just got our commercial internet up, besides I'm in Afghanistan and I'm not allowed to drink beer and I think that if there was a triathlon there it would be the first one ever.

I hope everyone has enjoyed the beer reviews that I scheduled to be posted while I was gone.  I didn't quite get them stretched out to post up til I came back for R&R.  I've only been back a couple of days but I've been busily scouring the Getranke Marts looking for beers that I haven't tried yet so that I can get a few more posts scheduled while I finish out my deployment.  There will be an Oktoberfestbier review and reviews of Christmas beers that are starting to hit the shelves as well as some local beers that I've found so enjoy those as they come up.

My workouts have not been going as good as I would have hoped.  I'm doing two full time jobs in Afghanistan and while I do manage to do a couple of runs and several workout sessions a week, I'm not where I would have liked to have been now.  I'm only up to about 10 miles comfortably and that's not going to cut it for when I get back.  In case you haven't heard I've lost my mind and become a victim of peer pressure as I signed up for the 2011 Ironman Regensburg.  My buddy Andy was talking about coming to Europe next summer and wanting to get together and doing a race.  Well we both started trash talking on email and the bottom line is we both decided to stretch out and test ourselves at the Ironman distance.  The only part that worries me is the swim but I should be fine even with that.

Well more later.