Hermann mixes small town Missouri charm with German tradition to drink, and eat, in

The first time I ever heard the word "Oktoberfest" involved Hermann, Missouri. Long before I visited the mother party in Munich, bought my first dirndl or learned that Oktoberfest properly takes place in September, my neighbours up the Missouri river taught me to associate the merriment of autumn festivals with Germany.

After my husband had put up with my high school reunion and friends for four busy days, I thought the Bavarian-descended Germanophile could use a treat shaped to his own tastes. There are a few things about Hermann's Oktoberfest, however, I had to brief him on given he was starting with a Munich perspective.

First, it's in October. Get over it. That's just the way it works here. Look at the blazing colour of the trees on the hillsides. Appreciate the sunny, cool but comfortable weather. Trust me, September in Missouri isn't nearly as nice as this. Second, nobody wears traditional dress but the performers. Third, Hermann's Oktoberfest is more about wine than beer. Fourth, it only happens on weekends, and Saturday is the much bigger day. Fifth, live bands tend to be the differentiator between venues rather than the Munich-style battle of breweries.

Bottom line: if you go expecting a Munich-style bash, you'll be disappointed. If you appreciate it as another slice of small-town Midwestern life, it's good fun. Especially if you treat yourself to the spectacular Room 201 at the Wharf Street Inn, which says "honeymoon retreat" even louder than its tasteful autumn decorations proclaim Oktoberfest. More on that later. First, the town and the party.

Hermann is a small place. Though it's the capital of Gasconade county ... and features an impressive little courthouse ...  the permanent population is just over 2,500 and the historic centre only about 12 square blocks. Yet there are more than 300 guest rooms here, and most of the businesses in the town centre are either restaurants, drinking establishments or cute boutiques. Modern Hermann is a place for tourism. 

The centre looks like it's been frozen in time around 1900, with an attractive mix of business and residential properties. It sits on flat land next to the Missouri river with hills encircling it; many of those planted with vines. It's a remarkably pretty place. In fact, if there were a castle on one of the hilltops, it would look a lot like the German rivers that so many Americans pay a fortune to cruise along. Which is no coincidence. 

Back in the 1820s a German named Gottfried Duden published a book about his travels in America, praising the Missouri River Valley between Saint Louis and Jefferson City as perfect wine growing country, exactly like the Rhine. Honestly, having just cruised those waters earlier this year, I think Duden was overstating matters. The valleys aren't nearly as deep and the riverscapes far less dramatic, but the climate and planting conditions are roughly the same and Missouri has loads of natural limestone caves that make for great aging cellars. The German immigrants came by the boatload, the stretch of river Duden praised is now known as The Missouri Rhineland and Herman sits at its centre.

While here, you can hike along river trails, get your photo taken on the riverboat memorial or check out the statue of Hermann the German, aka Arminius, the guy who beat the Romans in the Teutoburg Forest. You can check out quaint architecture, go antiquing or poke your nose into cute little shops. But most people come here to eat and drink.

WHERE TO EAT AND DRINK

I'll cover Missouri wineries in a separate article later in this series. As far as our personal Oktoberfest choices went, we opted for beer due to taste, European tradition and the desire to pace our drinking over a long day. And at the top of our Hermann beer list goes the Tin Mill Brewery.

As the world headquarters of Anheuser Busch, my home town of St. Louis always celebrated its beer heritage, but we did it only with AB's big brands. Since then, the microbrewery trend has boomed across the U.S. and it seems particularly vibrant in and around St. Louis. I spent the whole vacation discovering new tastes from unknown brewers, but Tin Mill offered the best combination of variety and informed patter. It was here that my husband found a dunkel weissbier that tasted exactly as his Munich-shaped taste buds told him it should.  And no wonder! A retrospective look at their web site revealed they brew to the German Purity Laws of 1516. (You may not think this is important but spend any time drinking with real Germans and they will set you straight on that one.) They import their barley and hops from Germany, and bought their brewing kettles there. No wonder it all tastes so authentic. With 20 beers on tap at any one time, you can spend a lot of quality time here.

Just down the street and under the same ownership is the Hermannhoff Festhalle, where the beer choice is more limited but the atmosphere is perfect. The enormous hall with its tall windows looking over the Mississippi is laid out with long tables draped in Bavarian blue and white diamonds, a dance floor is cleared in the centre and if you're lucky the Loehnig German Band will be on stage. I'm fairly sure family band matriarch Marylin was on the accordion back when I celebrated my first legal Oktoberfest a very long time ago. We'd left our Bavarian wardrobe at home, but this was the one place we could have felt at home in it.

Hermann has broadened out its drinking choices with distilleries, and along the same street (Gutenberg) as the former two establishments you'll find the Black Shire Distillery. How small a town is this? Master distiller Derek LeRoy is one of the co-brewers at Tin Mill, and son of the master winemaker at Hermanhoff ... who not only own the Festhall but the remarkably charming vineyard on the hill across the stream from the patio where you can consume whatever you're tasting. In a town of pretty views, this is probably the prettiest. Black Shire distills a whole range of bar staples, though is particularly celebrated for its gin, rye and bourbon. I'm not a fan of the last two, but was drinking with a bourbon aficionado who was very excited to get a bottle of one of their specialities not offered for sale outside of the distillery. If I had room in my luggage I would have bought a bottle of their excellent American gin to compare to all the English styles at home, but I was already past my bottle limit.

Across town, aka a two-block stroll, is Hermann's other distillery: Fernweh. We didn't do a straight tasting here but tucked directly into cocktails from our seats at the long bar, served up by by a master mixologist who had best-in-class coordination, taste buds and conversational banter. "I could throw bottles around, but I think it's more important to make a drink properly," he said, though he did flip a few across the night to make his point. The fact that he looked a bit like a pirate who'd just sailed upriver from Jean LaFitte's base only added to the appeal, but it was the delivery of knockouts like a first witch, a sazerac, rye tai or Ferdinand's Prost that proved the point.

Ferweh was also one of our favourite restaurants across the trip; good enough that we would have eaten there two nights in a row had they not been closed on Mondays. In England we'd classify this as a proper gastro pub: concerned about local sourcing, putting innovative twists on classics and throwing quirky culinary curve balls. Soft pretzels with cheese dip, a Missouri classic, were amongst the best we'd had. Jalapeño tater tots were the curve ball. Classics also mixed it up in their brisket meshed into a grilled cheese or made into tacos strewn with fresh tomatoes. The husband reported good things about the tomahawk pork chop.

If you only have one meal in Hermann, however, you really must go to the Hermann Wurst House. None of Fernweh's hip modern atmosphere here; you might as well be eating in a warehouse. But oh, those sausages! Loaded with flavour and popping with perfect texture. You can choose from more than 40 varieties to take home, and there will always be three on the menu. The award-winning classic, caramelised pear and gorgonzola and pineapple bacon bratwurst were on offer for our visit. I'm not usually a fan of German, vinegar-based potato salads but their warm, mild version is the best I've ever had. We brought home some thick cut maple and pecan cured bacon that beats anything I can get in the UK. And given the quality of our bacon here, that is saying a lot. 

WHERE TO STAY

Between the enormous jacuzzi, the luxurious bedding and the in-room fireplace, you may be so relaxed upon departing the Wharf Street in that you leave your purse behind and don’t realise until you’re three hours away. Fortunately manager Donna and the United States Postal Service saved the day as surely as she kept us stocked with fresh towels, welcome sweets and Keurig capsules. 

The Inn is more of an AirB&B style place than a B&B; Donna is on hand to get you settled but there is no reception and no services. This isn’t a problem as there are several good places for breakfast in town (our choice was the Stomp'n Grounds Espresso Bar) and Donna is just a text message away if you need anything. The building is exquisite and the quality of the renovation is excellent; old world charm plus modern conveniences. While there isn't a traditional hotel lobby, there's a communal area on the ground floor with a large table and a garden area out back with a galleried porch. These were all decorated, as was the exterior and the rooms, with autumn foliage, squashes and harvest knick knacks. 

We loved our enormous bed … so high it had steps to clamber into … facing a big fireplace you could flip on to send the gas licking over the fake logs. Dozing in front of the fire was a rare treat. The bathroom is just as luxurious, with an enormous shower fitted with a big bench area and a jacuzzi big enough for for two. Hermann is a lovely place to visit but, to be honest, if you hire Room 201 and get some food delivered you could imagine you're on honeymoon anywhere in the world.

The views across this enormous suite … three windows in the bedroom and another three in the bath … all look over the riverfront. The lazy Missouri and its tree-lined shores are lovely to wake up to. The location does come with the Inn’s only drawback, however. With the river comes the train tracks and steady freight traffic. If you’re a light sleeper, these trains can be loud, especially when the location is otherwise blissfully silent. If you think the noise will bother you, bring ear plugs. It’s a small hack to enjoy an otherwise magnificent location.