I normally settle for a top three. This time, I couldn’t. The many beer stops on my latest Interrail trip left me with four places that truly stood out.

Bierrevier in Basel

Bierrevier is located in a food hall just a few hundred metres from Basel’s main railway station. The hall is packed with food vendors, and you’re welcome to bring your meal into Bierrevier. We opt for Thai food, freshly wok-fried to order.

At the entrance to Bierrevier, a sign tells customers that fish dishes are not allowed inside. Nobody on the staff can explain why.

– It’s just always been that way.

We work our way through an outstanding selection of beers, both on tap and in cans. Ordering a 30 cl beer and having it served in two glasses is no problem at all. That allows us to sample twice as many different beers. Behind a glass wall separating the storage area from the bar, I spot a keg from the Swedish brewery Stigbergets.

Craft Beer Corner in Cologne

Cologne is famous for Kölsch, a beer style I don’t care for – just as little as German lager. It’s like kissing your sister: there’s no passion.

But down a slightly scruffy back street behind Cologne Cathedral, the sign appears announcing that this is where the real beer is. It’s a Tuesday evening, yet the place is packed. People aren’t here primarily for the beer – many are drinking bland industrial lager – but to practise languages. Their shirts are covered with small self-adhesive flags showing which languages they want to practise. I love the idea and manage to find both Spanish and Colombian banderitas (little flags).

Rather than drink an entire can of every beer, I explain to some random guests that I’d like to taste as many different beers as possible without getting drunk. So I ask if they’d be willing to help me.

The offer is accepted without hesitation, and empty glasses are immediately held out.

La Binouze Rochechouart in Paris

On a typical Parisian street, just a short walk from Gare du Nord, you’ll find this charming little beer bar. We choose to sit outside at a wobbly table on the pavement.

When I ask if each beer can be split into two glasses, the young woman behind the bar tries to persuade me to order a tasting flight of six different beers instead.

She isn’t convinced by my argument that by the time I reach the sixth beer, it will be both warm and flat.

– Then you’ll have to drink faster, she says.

We skip the tasting flight and enjoy our beers with a delicious cheese and charcuterie board – typically French.

Beyond Beer in Hamburg

Walking into Beyond Beer is like entering a temple dedicated to great beer – on tap, in cans and in bottles. They don’t serve food, but there’s a pizzeria right next door. I pop in to check it out.

They greet me in Spanish, which surprises me. Then I realise why. I’m wearing my yellow Colombian football shirt, the one I bought from a street vendor in Medellín. The entire staff are from neighbouring Ecuador.

The young woman offers to bring my pizza over to Beyond Beer as soon as it’s ready. It pairs perfectly with some outstanding beers, mostly IPAs on tap.

For the grand finale, there’s a wonderfully dark stout from the Swedish brewery Omnipollo.