The beers Andre Gifkens and Robyn Anderson of Berlin selected for their specialty store Lager Lager cover a wide range of styles, strengths and flavors. Not all of them conform to the Purity Law, which is why the word "beer" is missing from some labels. Some of them are produced by big companies; others are craft beers brewed by entrepreneurs without corporate backing. All of them are delicious.

We start on the tangy, low-alcohol, refreshing side. Weisse is a wheat beer dating from the 17th century and often drunk with fruit syrup. What gives the drink in its pure form a characteristic sourness is the addition of the bacteria lactobacillus. Friedrich the Great of Prussia learned how to brew it, and Napoleon allegedly dubbed it the "champagne of the North."

One reason for the Purity Law implemented in 1516 — which limited the makeup of beer to just water, hops, barley, and yeast — was to stop unscrupulous brewers from putting poison in the brew. But there's no intrinsic reason not to add natural ingredients like fruit. Berlin craft brewery Heidenpeter's uses raspberries to create a delectable German take on a Belgian fruit ale.

Beer is a thirst-quencher, so the last flavor you might think you'd want in it is salt, but that's indeed one of the key ingredients in the eastern German specialty, Gose. The other is coriander. Combine them with lactobacillus and top-fermenting yeast, and you get a drink that's salty, but doesn't leave you parched.

It took a long time for the craft beer movement to get to Germany, but when it did, it exploded, eradicating national boundaries. German brewers no longer always focus on bottom-fermenting, filtered pilsners and lagers. Innovative breweries like Berliner Berg are exploring Anglo-American styles like pale ales in all their many varieties.

Despite the prominence of lagers, specialized regional ales go back a long time in Germany. One is Kölsch in Cologne, another is Altbier from the Dusseldorf region. The name means "old beer," but that signifies top fermentation, not mustiness. On the contrary, this red ale is a session beer designed to be drunk in great quantities in brewing pubs like Uerige.

The smoked beers of the Bavarian town of Bamberg are based on a type of lager, but they're worlds away from Beck's. The malt is dried over an open fire, which imparts a smoky aroma and taste to the finished product. You might find Rauchbier off-putting at first, but try a classic like Schlenkerla with a platter of smoked meat, and you'll be in heaven.

Most people associate Bockbier with Bavaria, but it originated in the mid-13th century up north in Einbeck, which presumably drunken Bavarians mispronounced as "ein Bock." There's no mistaking the high alcohol content, which starts at six and goes all the way up to 57 percent. That's one reason why the many Bock styles taste more like barley wine than lager.

You can make a Bockbier out of either a lager or southern Germany's other specialty, Weizen (wheat beer). Using a higher proportion of wheat to barley sweetens the beer, and bumping up the alcohol content makes it an ideal after-dinner treat. The label of this Weizendoppelbock from the Schneider brewery just outside Munich reads "for a great moment in front of the fireplace."

The traditional German Schwarzbier (black beer) is a bottom-fermented lager that gets its deep, dark hue from roasting the malt. But craft breweries like Hanscraft from western Germany are treading different paths and making English-style top-fermented porters and stouts. Their Black Nizza Imperial Stout contains 10 different types of malt and a whopping 9 percent alcohol.

Inside this ceramic bottle made to look like a copper brewing kettle is a beer aged for up to 22 years in sherry, brandy, cognac, bourbon and scotch casks. The Boston-based brewer Samuel Adams releases new batches of the strong brew every two years. With its suggested retail price of $200 (about 190 euros), this sought-after strong ale is the most expensive beer in the United States.

The Scotland-based brewery BrewDog has been setting records for years; when it was released in 2009, this was the world's strongest beer. Imperial stout is frozen, then the frozen liquids are removed to leave behind more alcohol - inspiring the name. It's to be enjoyed in small servings, just like "a fine whisky, a Frank Zappa album or a visit from a friendly yet anxious ghost," its creators say.

De Struise Brouwers is a Belgian microbrewery. Their Black Damnation series is made from a dark Russian imperial stout beer, and among their different brews, VI - Messy is the strongest, with 39% ABV. It has never been released commercially, but connoisseurs who've tasted it at beer festivals say it still actually tastes like a real beer, compared to other very strong brews on this list.

Competing against BrewDog, the German brewery Schorschbräu was one of the two serious contestants in the arms race to create the world's strongest beer. It had already demonstrated its will to push the limits of beer with its Schorschbock 31%, an Eisbock stronger than any other beer available when it was released in 2008. Their 40% version was brewed at the end of 2009, beating BrewDog's Penguin.

BrewDog released this even stronger beer a few months later, in 2010. In a clear reference to its German competitor, it was named after the Nazis' largest battleship. It is described by BrewDog as a "quadruple IPA that contains four times the hops, four times the bitterness and frozen four times." At a 100 euros ($105) a bottle, it's also at least 40 times more expensive than a conventional beer.

Aiming to end the battle for the world's strongest beer with this 55% blond Belgian ale, BrewDog also added a controversial visual touch to The End of History by encasing each beer in preserved roadkill. Only 12 bottles were initially made in 2010. New editions were released for a 2016 crowdfunding campaign. Supporters who invested $20,000 in the company were rewarded with this collector's item.

Schorschbräu upgraded to a Schorschbock 43% in 2010 and retaliated with a yet stronger beer in 2011, the Schorschbock 57. The German brewer claims it would be impossible to reach a higher ABV without violating Germany's 500-year-old Beer Purity Law, which they apply in their creations. Only 36 bottles of this beer were initially made, each costing 200 euros (about $210).

Dutch brewer 't Koelschip, which translates to "the refrigerated ship," has also created a few ultra-strong beers. This one was released a month after The End of History - its name, Start the Future, was an obvious reference to its predecessor. The limited batch was also reasonably priced: 35 euros a pop was a bargain compared to the 750 euros for each bottle of BrewDog's dead squirrel creations.

Another Scottish brewery, Brewmeister, tried to claim the title of the world's strongest beer by releasing a line called Armageddon in 2012. However, lab tests demonstrated that ethanol - pure alcohol - had been added to the product. It has since been removed from Brewmeister's lineup.

In 2013, Brewmeister replaced its previous strongest beer, Armageddon, with the stomach-burning Snake Venom. One bottle is equivalent to drinking 15 shots of hard liquor. A label on the bottle recommends not exceeding 35 milliliters in one sitting. Not for purists, this beer is considered unratable by the site RateBeer as the Scottish brewer also admitted to correcting its ABV with pure alcohol.