Stepping inside the Delirium Café is a bit like being allowed to sit behind the wheel of your dad’s car and not being given the keys. Along an entire wall of the long, slender bar is an array of bottled beers that would make a Trappist monk blush; French, British, Russian, Belgian and, thoughtfully, a few national brews that will make you yearn for their full-bodied flavour every time you style down to a can of Skol. So what’s stopping you putting your foot down on a serious trawl through the world’s best breweries? Well, put simply, for the price of a bottle of the (admittedly delicious) Weihensterhaner (R$26.90) you could feed yourself nicely in a decent restaurant and still have change to get the bus home.

But that is to somewhat miss the point of Delirium, which is really to splurge a little more than you would normally deem wise on some truly fine examples of beer that you will simply not find anywhere else in the city. The Belgian St Feuillon (R$21.90) is the perfect accompaniment to a plate of mussels in Hoegaarden and cream with fries (R$59.90) and rounding off with the raspberry Floris (R$23.90) for ‘pudding’ makes for a pleasingly alternative night’s drinking. There are also ‘tasting menus’, coupling together five particularly well-suited bottles with enough of a discount on the total price (around R$30) to help twist your arm.

There are also draught beers of course, from Guinness (R$18.90/pint) to the rather fine Therezopolis (R$7/half), whilst upstairs can be hired out for a night of tasting should you find yourself among a few friends with a love for beer, inquisitive palates and deep pockets.