Around the World in 20 Drinks: Germany

No global drinking adventure would be complete without a tip of the booze-hat towards Germany. Whilst the rest of the world thinks beer is merely cold, fizzy stuff that oils the wheels of social integration, the thirsty Teutons celebrate it as something far more important.

We've all seen photos of Oktoberfest, but there's much more to German beer culture than ruddy-cheeked Bavarians crashing giant steins together. Like the English and cheese - or the Scots and recreational drugs - each region has its own speciality.

Take Leipzig, for instance. Order a beer there, and you may well be offered a Gose. At around 5%, these are wheat beers brewed with coriander and salt, then stored in wooden barrels with souring bacteria. Only one Gose brewer survived the Second World War, and when he died the secret was lost.

Happily the recipe was discovered in the 1980's and Gose resurrected. I bet the Leipzigers love to watch the tourists as the sour, herbal, salty beer pummels every taste bud they possess. My advice is to take a few sips, nod your head, and move on - a great way to practice your poker face if nothing else.

In Berlin there's no need to hide your emotions, as they have a much more palatable version – the fabled Berliner Weisse. A similarly sour wheat beer, fruit flavoured syrup is added to nullify the tartness giving a flavour like a mid-90's alcopop. German pre-teens must love them.

Berliner Weisse is therefore the ultimate beginner's beer – they are even served in fishbowl-shaped glasses and drunk through a straw. The two most popular flavours are raspberry or woodruff (a strange, green herb). At only 3%, chances are you'll pass out from sugar overload long before the alcohol catches up with you.

If you're after something a bit more challenging, head to the city of Bamberg – and the ultimate in acquired German tastes. Rauchbier may look like a normal brown bitter – but one sniff and you instantly realise it's very, very different. The malted barley used in brewing is first dried over beechwood, making the finished beer smell (and taste) like smoky bacon.

"It's like hot-dogs in a blender," was the opinion of a friend after their first, and last, sip. Sweet, smoked ham in a glass – Rauchbiers divide opinions utterly. As with Gose and Berliner Weisse, you have to work at them, but they are all worth trying if only to see that there's more to German beer than lager.