Catherine and I had been talking about a true vacation for a while — not a work trip masquerading as leisure, but actual downtime. After my experience in Broken Bow, OK, last summer, I put my Ai, Perplexity, to work finding an interesting destination that was drivable but that had a dstillery. What it found was a small German enclave in Missouri that not only had multiple wineries and great German food that has four different distilleries. When we started mapping out a route to Hermann, Missouri, a small German settled town on the Missouri River, Branson came up as a logical overnight stop. Neither of us had ever been, and it seemed like a shame to drive past it. What followed was one of the better whiskey trips I have taken in recent years, with four bottles to show for it representing four very different visions of what Missouri whiskey can be. This is not a typical tasting notes post — this is about the places, the people, and the stories behind the whiskey.
Missouri does not often come up in the conversation about American whiskey regions. Kentucky dominates, Tennessee has its identity, and Indiana has become shorthand for MGP sourcing. But Missouri has a genuine and underappreciated distilling heritage. The state was once one of the most important grain and whiskey producing regions in the country before Prohibition all but erased the tradition. Hermann in particular — a small, fiercely German town tucked into a bend of the Missouri River in Gasconade County — has long made something from what it grows. Wine has been Hermann’s calling card for nearly two centuries, ever since German immigrants settled the river valley in the 1830s and noticed the wild grapevines growing along the rocky hillsides. By the mid-1800s, Hermann’s wines were winning gold at the Vienna World Exposition and its wineries were known throughout the country. Stone Hill Winery, Hermannhof, and Adam Puchta Winery — some of which have been making wine on the same land since the 1840s and 1850s — remain the backbone of the town’s identity. The town of about 2,400 souls retains that character, with downtown architecture that still feel transplanted from the Rhine Valley.
But now, whiskey is here too. Hermann currently sports four whiskey distilleries operating in and around that small downtown: Black Shire/Hermann Farm, Lionheart Whiskey Co., Copper Mule, and Fernweh Distilling Co. I was able to visit three of them; Fernweh, it turns out, is only open on Saturdays and Sundays at the distillery level on limited hours, and our schedule did not accommodate a visit. That is a trip for another time. But the three I did visit gave me a solid cross-section of what Missouri and especially Hermann whiskey is trying to be, and I came home with four very good bottles.
Stop One: Full Throttle Distillery, Branson, Missouri
Branson was a pleasant surprise. I will be honest — I went in with modest expectations for what is primarily a country music and family tourism town, but it has more going on than I expected. The old downtown on Main Street is charming and navigable on foot, and the dining scene is better than the town’s reputation suggests. I was able to treat my wife to two elegant anniversary celebratory dinners while were were there. One was at our hotel, Chateau on the Lake, and one was at Worman House, both with wonderful sunset views and delicious food. The chocolate souffle at Worman House was one of the best I ever tasted.
Full Throttle Distillery & Smokehouse opened there in January 2025 in a renovated former flea market building at 116 E. Main Street, and it has become something of a centerpiece for that stretch of downtown. It is a full-service concept — coffee bar, breakfast and brunch, a smokehouse menu, live music, and the distillery retail experience all under one roof. The renovation reportedly took about 18 months, and the result is impressive.
Full Throttle was founded in 2012 in Trimble, Tennessee — a small town of fewer than 700 people — by Michael Ballard, who is perhaps better known as the former owner of Full Throttle Saloon, a legendary Sturgis motorcycle rally destination. Ballard partnered with master distiller Dr. Paul Higgs to create the distillery’s line of spirits. It is worth being upfront about something the tasting room staff told me directly: the whiskey is produced in Trimble, Tennessee, and bottled in Branson. Full Throttle is not distilling on site at the Branson location. That is a fair practice and a common one for newer distillery outposts, and I appreciate the transparency. The Branson store is more of a flagship experience built around the brand than a functioning distillery in the production sense. But the whiskey is real, and it is made well.
I picked up their Cask Strength Reserve Whiskey, a 120-proof, five-year-old expression produced at Trimble Distilling Company. The distillery’s own tasting notes describe it as delivering deep, complex notes of dark chocolate, charred oak, and rich caramel, balanced by a smooth, lingering warmth. The experience at the tasting room was polished and friendly — this is clearly a brand that knows how to do hospitality, and the breakfast we had was amazing. I not only bought bourbon but I bought some Watermelon flavored moonshine with an eye toward using it in making a cocktail version of my Bourbon Baller daiquiri.
The Bottle: Full Throttle Reserve Cask Strength Whiskey — 120 Proof, 5 Years Old
The color is a nice solid amber with some mahogany flecks, which is impressive for its age. On the swirl is a nice thick film and legs. The nose is very traditional bourbon-lots of vanilla and caramel up front,with some nice oak in the background. On the palate, the flavors are very rich-lots of vanilla, caramel, mint, candied cherries, with some drying oak. On the finish, baking spice, mint, and clove come to the fore with drying oak. On the second tasting, there is some youthful bitterness on the finish, but I suspect I might be one of the few who would notice that. The palate and mouthfeel are very old school bourbon to me, despite not being labelled as bourbon. While the palate is not terribly complex, what this whiskey does have as far as flavor is done well, particularly at this young age.
Stop Two: Hermann Farm Distillery (Black Shire), Hermann, Missouri
Hermann Farm Distillery is the most authentically rooted of the Hermann whiskey producers, in the sense that it is literally on a working farm. Located at 2206 Highway 100 on the historic Hermann Farm property, the operation is the creation of Derek LeRoy, who describes himself first and foremost as a winemaker — and it shows in his philosophy. LeRoy focuses on building complex flavor during fermentation and allowing aroma and character to carry through into the finished spirit, rather than relying primarily on barrel aging to do the heavy lifting. This is a distinctly European approach to American whiskey, and I find it deeply interesting.
The spirits are only available at the distillery or at the tasting room located in downtown Hermann at 111 Gutenberg Street on the corner of First and Gutenberg, which operates as Black Shire Distillery. The company has three lines of spirits – Black Shire, Polly’s Still House, and Hermann Farm. The Hermann Farm property itself offers tours by carriage, pulled by the working shire draft horses that give the brand its name. Polly’s Still House also has tours. The connection to place is deliberate and genuine — the distillery uses locally grown grain and ages in Missouri-made white oak casks that are built and charred locally, not by General Stave or another industrial cooperage. That alone is worth noting. The lineup includes small batch bourbon, gin, rye, eau de vie, vodka, and a best-selling blackberry whiskey, but the bourbon is what I came for.
Their cask strength bourbon is a single barrel release. I also tasted their 90 proof (Black Shire) and their double-barreled (Polly’s Still House) expressions, both of which were good, well-made whiskeys. I found the 90 proofer to be a solid pour even at that low proof. But the cask strength single barrel is where LeRoy’s approach really comes into focus.
The Bottle: Hermann Farm Cask Strength Bourbon — Single Barrel, 375ml
The color on this bourbon is a nice amber, with a big thick film and legs on the swirl, more than you would expect at 108.6 proof. On the nose I get English toffee, caramel, and some nice honeysuckle and floral notes. On the palate, the toffee and caramel notes are joined by spearmint, black pepper, and a hint of oak. On the finish, the spearmint becomes candied and sharp and black pepper continues on with some drying oak on the back end. Mouthfeel is medium full. This is a very good and very interesting flavor profile for bourbon. The philosophy I mentioned above is on full display; this is as much driven by grain and fermentation as it is by the barrel. A truly intriguing bourbon.
Stop Three: Lionheart Whiskey Co., Hermann, Missouri
Lionheart is the most ambitious of the Hermann distilleries, in the sense that it has set its sights well beyond the local tourist trade. Founded by Clayton and Marie Newell, the distillery is housed in the historic August Nasse property at 215 Schiller Street in downtown Hermann — a wonderful old building with real bones, and a carriage house from the 1920s that now serves as the bottling room. The distillery tour covers the 1848 home and pharmacy as well as the carriage house, and includes a guided flight tasting and a cocktail-making lesson. I however opted just for the tasting sitting at a table where bottles were being labelled and the distillery’s dog, Augustus, was wanting attention.
In 2025, Lionheart earned three awards from the New York International Spirits Competition, putting it on the map internationally among emerging craft distilleries. That recognition is well deserved, and it reflects a deliberate and thoughtful approach to production. Lionheart contract distills with MGP Ingredients in Indiana, but — and this is an important distinction — they do so with their own proprietary grain selection and their own yeast. The spirit is then barreled and aged in Hermann before being bottled on site in that historic carriage house. This is not simply buying barrels off the shelf from MGP; it is a collaborative production arrangement where Lionheart controls the inputs that most shape the flavor profile of the raw spirit. Their specialty is rye whiskey, and the lineup has earned a real following among rye enthusiasts.
I purchased their Single Barrel Reserve Rye at cask strength, 115.4 proof, aged four to five years. This is a rye whiskey that has grown up. The grassy, grain-forward notes common in young MGP rye have already transitioned into bright citrus — a sign that the whiskey has genuinely come into itself, a product of both good distillate and the care of aging in Hermann’s Missouri River climate. As a point of comparison for rye lovers: MGP rye at cask strength from a good barrel, aged properly, is one of the legitimate treasures of American whiskey. What Lionheart has done here is take that potential and realize it on their own terms. Their own make, but using an established distillery’s team and equipment.
The Bottle: Lionheart Single Barrel Reserve Rye — Cask Strength, 115.4 Proof, 4-5 Years Old Barrel No. 40
The color on this is a nice amber, with the thickest of film and legs on the swirl; it is terribly impressive. On the nose, this definitely makes no bones about being a rye whiskey even if only at 51% and the rest mostly corn – minty and citrus notes dominate the nose. On the palate, the mint notes are joined by lemon and blood orange notes, with some black pepper and oak in the background. On the finish, the mint and black pepper notes linger and linger before drying oak takes over. My overall impression is that Lionheart is trying to make rye whiskey of the quality that you would find in Thomas H. Handy Sazerac Rye. I don’t know if it is quite there yet, but it is damn good. The fact that the the grassy rye notes you would generally find on a rye of this age have turned to mint and citrus instead, is really something for the age of this whiskey. Truly an outstanding rye whiskey.
Stop Four: Copper Mule Distillery, Hermann, Missouri
Of the four Hermann distilleries, Copper Mule has perhaps the deepest family roots in the community. The distillery was founded in 2019 by Don and Jeanne Gosen, but the family’s connection to Hermann distilling goes back to 1893, when Jeanne’s great-grandfather, Captain Gustav Wohlt, helped found the Hermann Distilling Company. Don’s great-grandfather on his side ran Eggers Milling Company, which supplied grain for local brewing and distilling at the turn of the twentieth century. The property itself — a former mule farm off Highway 100 east of downtown — takes its name from the Kallmeyer family mules that grazed the land beginning in 1910. Don and Jeanne also founded Bauernhof Brewery in Hermann back in 2001, so they are not newcomers to the craft beverage world.
The distillery sits on rolling hills with good views, and the tour and tasting experience leans into the agrarian heritage of the property. Copper Mule’s main focus is wheated bourbon — a recipe that suits them and their story, given Hermann’s German agricultural heritage and the affinity that culture has long had for wheat. Their flagship bourbon is the 1893, a nod to the founding of the original Hermann Distilling Company. They also produce the Arminius Rye (although it is a rye recipe bourbon, not really a rye), named for the Germanic tribal leader Arminius — a nice historical touch for a town that named itself after a Germanic hero of the ancient world.
I tried four expressions at the distillery. The standard 90 proof wheated bourbon, their entry-level, was pleasant but unremarkable — the kind of whiskey that reminds you how much aging and proof matter. The regular JD Select at 100 proof was more interesting, with a yeasty, peanut-forward funkiness that reminded me of Rebel Yell — which, for the record, is not an insult, though it is a particular flavor profile that not everyone gravitates toward. I tried the Arminius Rye bourbon, and it was good as well. But the single barrel cask strength JD Select, at 112 proof, is a genuinely different animal. Here the wheated character, which can tend toward docile sweetness at lower proofs, becomes something more textured and complex. The proof gives it structure, and despite its relatively young age at five years, it delivers. This is the bottle that justified the detour out to their location on Highway 100.
The Bottle: Copper Mule JD Select Cask Strength Single Barrel — 112 Proof, 5 Years Old
The color on this bourbon is a delightful dark amber; darker than you would expect at 4 to 5 years old. On the swirl is a nice thick film and legs; I attribute this to the lower barrel entry proof that allows the whiskey to really soak up the oils not only from fermentation but the wood. The nose is very traditional wheated bourbon – lots of yeasty cinnamon rolls notes, along with some vanilla and oak. On the palate, the fresh baked cinnamon roll notes continue but with candied cherries coming to the fore. The finish continues with the candied cherries, black pepper, and oak, with the finish lingering for what feels like forever. There is a slight bit of youthful bitterness at the very end of the finish; but I literally did not notice it until the second time I took a pour from the bottle. I am kind of dumbfounded at this bourbon. I have always held to the idea that wheated bourbons need more time in the barrel than rye recipe bourbons, because more time is needed to develop the flavors of wheated bourbon. Copper Mule’s JD Select at cask strength at 4 to 5 year old defies this logic, and this bourbon doesn’t feel rushed to maturity. At the tasting, my hostess told me that this was just a really special barrel that the distiller just couldn’t bear to water down, so he bottled it at cask strength. Sometimes in rickhouses across the whiskey making world, you get a honey barrel. Good on Copper Mule in recognizing this honey barrel and bottling it. This one is getting promoted to my elite living room bar, where it belongs.
Final Thoughts on Hermann as a Whiskey Destination
Hermann deserves to be on the radar of serious American whiskey enthusiasts who also enjoy a sense of place. The town’s wine culture is mature and excellent — Stone Hill Winery alone is worth the drive — but the whiskey scene is young, diverse, and doing interesting things with the raw materials the region provides. The fact that a town of 2,400 people now has four whiskey distilleries, each with a distinct philosophy and identity, is remarkable. Lionheart is reaching toward national and international recognition with a contract distilling model that gives it access to world-class distillate shaped by its own choices. Copper Mule is rooted in local family legacy and a genuine sense of agricultural heritage and a wheated bourbon that is knock your socks off good. Hermann Farm/Black Shire is the winemaker-turned-distiller who uses European fermentation philosophy in an American grain spirit context. And Fernweh — which I will have to visit on a return trip when my schedule permits — was Hermann’s first craft distillery and continues to produce small batch and single barrel releases that have earned it a loyal following.
For anyone looking at a road trip through Missouri wine country, the answer is yes — there is now excellent reason to add whiskey to the agenda. Hermann is about ninety minutes west of St. Louis, easy to reach, and thoroughly enjoyable. As a Louisianian, I was happy to enjoy German food, ranging from Schnitzel to Brats to Bacon Burnt Ends barbecue sandwiches to Bavarian pretzels with beer cheese to Missouri rainbow trout.