Heidelbräu

After Bamberg, the next stop on the Germany trip was Heidelberg. It's a charming little city, the old town squeezed into a narrow valley on the river Necker, overlooked by the castle and, above it, a hotel and assorted radio masts. Below, it's narrow streets, quaint squares and, what with the student population, a lot of fast food.

There are currently two brewpubs operating in the town centre. Kulterbrauerei is part of a large eating and drinking complex spread across several buildings. The beerhall is a palatial high-ceilinged affair. The beer prices are similarly palatial, almost touching €5 the half-litre.

The house lager is Scheffels Kräusen, a slightly hazy blonde in the typical brewpub style. There's a strongly sour lemon juice aroma and I was worried it would end up being vinegar. Thankfully that doesn't materialise and instead there's a big dose of lemon citrus, making the sum total light, fresh and invigorating. It's maybe not the wholesome chewer that most of these are, but I'm not going to fault it just for being different.

Beer of the moment was a red ale called Scheffels Red: something of a beast at 6.5% ABV. It's an unattractive murky, muddy ochre colour, though set me at ease soon after with its lovely clean fruit notes. I got red grape and cherry in particular, with a little banana as it warms. In total contrast to the beer above, it's weighty and warming, giving it a whole different set of charms. I don't know if it's an attempt to mimic any particular beer style -- I've certainly never tasted anything like it -- but they've made something quite beautiful here.

The other regular is Scheffels Hefeweizen, an orange-coloured take on the style and one of the sweeter iterations. I got an immediate whiff of brown sugar from the aroma, turning to a flavour of Sugar Puffs, toffee and cinnamon. Despite this, it's not oppressively sweet, the way the like of Maisel's weissbier is. It manages to remain drinkable. That's about all I can say in its favour, however. This recipe is not an improvement on the weissbier basics, distinctive though it may be.

Not far away is Brauhaus Vetter, a compact little place with the brewkit sitting in the front room at the end of the bar. In an effort to try all four beers available I took the unusual step of ordering a flight, since they were on offer.

Vetter Helles holds very few surprises, though is more full-bodied than 4.5% ABV suggests. It's a standard pale yellow and tastes of white bread infused with lemon zest, finishing on a crisp mineral dryness. It's clearer and cleaner than I was expecting, but I'm not complaining.

Next up in strength is the 4.8% ABV Vetter Dunkles Hefeweizen. I don't go in for these much, and this wasn't a great example. The low strength leads to a pale body, more copper-coloured than properly brown. The flavour offers little other than some green banana, with no dark malt character at all. It's all bit characterless really and I was glad of not being responsible for more than a taster.

Pale lager no. 2 is Vetter Märzen. This has a proper Märzen ABV of 5.4%. It's heavy too, but with an inappropriate concentration of esters bringing a headachey pear drops effect with a slice of fruitcake on the side. Beyond these flaws there's not much else. The wholesome breadcrust of decent Märzen is missing. Like with the Dunkelweizen, they've skimmed past the style's good points without actually hitting them.

That brings us to the headline act: the beer the brewery proclaims on the menu and assorted posters is the strongest in the world. Vetter 33 held the title in the Guinness Book of Records in 1994 and they're still trading on it. It's 33° Plato so 10.5% ABV and a handsome chestnut colour, like a doppelbock, but not one. It's quite flat and there's a sweet-sour dual aspect, tasting of cherry liqueur chocolates. I loved it. Making a dark beer of this strength is a simple proposition but a fun one. Every brewpub should have something like this on the books, to be served in small glasses at session's end.

And those were the beers of Heidelberg, take 'em or leave 'em. The trip wraps up on Friday.