"High quality, versatile and above all important"

- World champion Freyberger is now also king of the bratwurst -

The annual Franconian Bratwurst Summit will take place in Pegnitz in 2023. After a three-year break, the butchers are firing up the grill again to show who has the best bratwurst in all of Franconia. Nine butchers are fighting for the title of Bratwurst King. Among them is the Freyberger butcher shop. They won the butchers' world championship in 2022 and now want to put the crown on the whole thing.

There are various categories in which the bratwurst artists compete against each other: Best classic Franconian bratwurst, creative bratwurst and the audience award, which is awarded by the visitors via vote. An independent jury tastes the various bratwursts blind and carries out the evaluation. The butcher with the highest rating from all disciplines receives the crown.

Practice makes perfect

"We have been consistently improving our bratwurst over the decades," explains master butcher Dirk Freyberger. He has a mixture of coarse and fine bratwurst - a classic - in his luggage. A traditional variant that nevertheless represents the spirit of the times with modern ideas.

Over 10,000 people attend the Bratwurst Summit. While Dirk turns the sausages, the event's moderator calls the three best butchers for the classic onto the stage. Among them is the Freyberger butcher's shop. They take first place and win the classic Franconian Bratwurst category. "We knew from the start that we had to take home a prize for the sake of our customers," says the master butcher. His customers are the most important thing to him. "We have a responsibility for quality towards consumers," adds Dirk.

People who respect the craft and buy their bratwurst from a butcher should not be disappointed. That is why the Freyberger butcher shop is constantly evolving and constantly testing its new creations, while constantly refining the traditional ones.

It takes a whole village to create a bratwurst

"We only got the Cheesy Gonzales creative sausage to where it is now thanks to our team and feedback from outside," says Dirk. A few years ago, the butcher's shop announced an internal competition in which all employees could take part. The idea was that everyone should submit a creative sausage. These were offered for sale and the feedback from customers decided whether it should be permanently included in the range.

The winner was the Cheesy Gonzales, a jalapeno cheddar sausage with Peppadew. Mild spiciness meets a fruity note, giving it the taste of the jalapenos and the uniqueness of the special seasoning.

A Kingdom for a Bratwurst

Both the jury and the visitors to the Bratwurst Summit are convinced by the Cheesy Gonzales. Freyberger wins the creative bratwurst category and the audience award. The butcher's shop thus achieves the highest score and the judges crown Dirk Bratwurst King 2023. "Simply awesome! We're taking part for the second time and we've won all the prizes straight away! Thank you to my team, thank you to our fans, thank you, thank you, thank you," the king cheers.

But the Bratwurst nobility also pays due respect to the other participants: "All the butchers present here are fantastic and produce excellent sausages! The Franconian Bratwurst is like our surrounding crafts: high quality, versatile and, above all, important."