Kulmbach, Germany

Kulmbach is a town of roughly 25,000 residents on the White Main in Upper Franconia, Bavaria. The 2001 Bavarian Brewery Museum traces the local tradition of high-density brewing, and Kulmbach holds the record for the world's strongest beer, the 13% EKU 28, brewed from 1969 to 1997. Above the town stands Plassenburg Castle, first documented in 1133 and rebuilt between 1559 and 1570, which houses the Bavarian Tin Figure Museum's 300,000 figures across 70 dioramas. The 1398 Saint Peter's Church adds a 14th-century carved altar to the town's medieval layers.