Yes, there are different brands of Lutherans, usually called synods. This is the Missouri Synod. My parents weren't thrilled that the only Lutheran church in our town was one of these. They preferred a more liberal variety.
Though they claim to be anti-Catholic, they cannot tell you why. Anti-Catholicism was drummed into our heads during confirmation classes with no explanation. I figured they were just being mean. The church has forgotten her roots.
One thing that surprised me greatly was just how similar Lutheran and Catholic services are. When my husband and I attended a more liberal Lutheran church for a time, I came to understand just why. Our pastor told us in a sermon (or homily, as he called it, just like the Catholic church) that we were really re-formed Catholics. Ah-ha! He even got us into making the sign of the cross. Between that and having taught a year in a Catholic school, I still get the urge now and then to make the sign of the cross in our SDA church after we are finished singing "Hear Our Prayer", which is also used in Catholic and Lutheran churches.
I can only imagine what it must be like for folks that have come out from being lifelong Catholics.
Strangely enough, smoking in the Lutheran churches of my childhood was not frowned upon. I still remember us driving up to the church and seeing the pastor outside with a couple of the members having a cigarette before the service started!
At another, the pastor and some members would smoke in the fellowship hall when they would gather for coffee after the service. Drinking alcohol was also permitted. However, my aunt and uncle did not drink, unlike my own folks. This set them apart as strange.
I know there are some very conservative Lutheran churches. It surprised me greatly when I read Ray Holmes' book, "Stranger in My Home", that they did not drink, smoke, or dance.
After all of us children were confirmed, my family attended the Methodist church. I'm not sure exactly why we stopped going to the Lutheran church, but I wasn't exactly sorry. My parents did not remove our membership. When I joined a Methodist church while attending a Methodist college in Texas, things sort of heated up. The leaders of our local Lutheran church were not happy that my parents did not have me under control, even though it had been a number of years since they had actually attended church there.