Barn

This barn is original to the Rasche family, who during their time here owned horses, pigs and cattle. It is now used as Black Shire Distillery’s rickhouse (also called a rackhouse), which is the building in which spirits are aged in barrels. Most of the barrels used to age Black Shire spirits are Missouri-made, new white oak barrels that are built by a cooperage not too far from Hermann. 

Still House

Many people in the 19th century would have built their own, small still houses, like this on the Rasche farm, which was also used as a smokehouse and summer kitchen over the years. 

Typically these stills were used for alcohol production or water distillation to purify drinking water. We cannot say for certain what the Rasche’s home still would have been used for, but spirit distillation from the various grains the Rasches grew when they lived here as well as distillation of water from the spring or other nearby sources are both likely.

We carry on the Rasche’s tradition of distillation with Black Shire Distillery, which is located to the right in the brick building. There, we craft bourbon, rye, gin, vodka, eau de vie and other spirits inspired by the Farm’s history. 

Spring House

If you’ve ever spent a summer in the Midwest, then you understand what kind of heat and humidity the German settlers here were dealing with.

Unfortunately for them, they didn’t have access to the kinds of cooling technologies we now enjoy; specifically, they lacked refrigerators. Considering the importance of dairy to many German farmers — including the Rasches, who in 1860 owned five milk cows — finding a way to safely store their dairy products in a cool environment was crucial to a farm family’s ability to live. Luckily, Missouri springs would stay in the mid-50s (Fahrenheit) even in the midst of summer. By building a house, particularly a stone one, on top of a spring, the Rasches created a refrigeration system that could store their milk, cheese, butter and other perishables to prevent them from spoiling. On top of the storage purposes, a spring house protected what would likely have been the family’s primary source of fresh water from leaves, dirt and animal waste.