After hearing promises of rain and storms for the next day, we decided to sleep in (note: 8 AM) and take it easy on our second day in Interlaken. We had a slow morning in the B&B, went back to the espresso machine one or two times too many, and eventually found our way to Barracuda--a grill just up the street that offered free wifi and great chorizo paninis. It was here that Ryan got to try his first Haarige Kuh brew (see end of previous post), which he loved. Hoping for a different response from Barracuda's owner than from Barrel the night before, he asked if they had a tasting room. The owner shrugged, said Glynn (one of the head brewers) was a friend of hers, and called him on his cell right then and there. A few minutes later, we had a scheduled visit down in our calendar to swing by their brewing warehouse and meet both head brewers.
So in a nutshell, our day comprised working, answering e-mails, catching up on photos and blog posts, and...getting a personal tour of a microbrewery that isn't even open to the public, and tasting beers that had only just been bottled (they hadn't even entered the market). Andy and Glynn were excellent hosts and walked us through the brewing process from a more scientific perspective, which I (as less of a beer person than Ryan) really appreciated, and we left an hour later with a few bottles clinking in our backpacks.
Andy and Glynn recommended a small Thai place not far from our B&B, so we headed to Little Thai, which is owned by a beer sommelier/cicerone who has a huge appreciation for local beers. A set of drunken noodles and yellow curry later, and we were ready to trudge back through the rain to our hotel and pass out...which is exactly what we did. A necessary slow day to catch up on "real life," particularly planning our impending move to the Bay Area--and a nice chance to give our feet a break from 10- to 12-mile days.
