Beery

Just back from another short trip to Kranzberg, near Freising/Munich. This time I stayed in a little guesthouse called Metzgerwirt (yes, it's a fully equipped butchers). I had been led to believe it was a desperate place that hadn't changed since the 70's, but actually the rooms were large, bright, very clean, a little bare, but not bad at all. Alot better than the extremely ugly but well located Bayerischer Hof in Freising.

It was a busy couple of days working with an interesting mix of nationalities; German, Italian and Greek. I just love these mixes of culture. I can't help smiling when our southern neighbours get all passionate and extremely direct, hand waving included. I was glad it was not directed at me however.

Dinner last night was in my favourite guesthouse in the neighbourhood, Hörger, but as I've had all the beers there I just confirmed my opinions of the Hofbrauhaus Freising Dunkel (raisen-like sweetness with a surprisingly dry finish, nice) and the Huber Weisses Original (Echt Weissbärig, decent amount of banana aroma/flavour, and a little soapy). The Schweinemedallions with Spätzle and a mushroom sauce was bloody great.

On an aside, alot of German colleagues who haven't met me yet, but send an e-mail, type my name as Berry. It's the way Barry gets pronounced around here. I just spotted one such mail with a typo naming me as Beery. At least it's closer to the mark!