VOM FASS

Vom Fass is truly a hidden gem. Located right on the main strip of Manchester in the heart of Maplewood, Vom Fass offers olive oils, balsamic vinegars and a variety of alcoholic spirits. All of these are barrel or cask fermented.
Customers are welcome to try any of these delicious speciality items before buying. They also have lots of gift options, wine and other gourmet accessories.
The staff is friendly and knowledgable about their products. This little shop is clean, bright and organized. I’ve visited it many times and I adore each and every item I’ve bought from them. No trip to Maplewood is complete without visiting Vom Fass.

Styrian pumpkinseed oil. BUY IT!!! It is a staple in my pantry for broccoli and Brussels sprouts and sometimes roasting sweet potatoes. It really gives more depth of flavor to them!
Overall Vom Fass is a great store with a very friendly and knowledgeable staff. They have a large variety of oils, vinegars and spirits in which to choose. You are able to taste everything. The staff will get you the sample and also give you advice on what to pair it with or what to cook it with.
They have an awesome assortment of gift sets during the holidays.
The only reason I did not give them 5 stars is because if the store gets busy, it’s hard to be able to taste new items or buy products since it’s not self service.

Wow wow and wow if you are any type of foodie this place is for you. Custom oils vinegar we are talking wonderful flavor of plum raspberries elderflower etc then the whiskey liqueurs as vanilla dream or framboise which I can honestly say kicks the living daylight out of chambourd. If your a scotch man this is the place of your dreams they even have Absinthe and not the kind that makes you see pretty pick elephants. The staff is well versed in what they have. You can sample anything you would like. I must see

Do you want to know how much I love Vom Fass? If I could double my stars and give Vom Fass 10 stars I would! That is how much I love it. Nestled, almost hidden, on Manchester Road in the hip Maplewood neighborhood is this unparalleled liquor, wine & specialty food store that I cant get enough of. Vom Fass is a franchise store based out of Germany that you wont currently find anywhere else in the St. Louis area. What is so fun about Vom Fass is that you can go in there and taste a variety of different liqueurs to the point that you walk out of there with a nice buzz and a bag full of unique liquor. My first time in the store I tasted Rose Liqueur, Absinthe (the first time ever), Elderflower Liqueur, Nut Chocolate, Vanilla Cream, and Lemoncello. I was having so much fun that I didn’t even notice all of the wine, infused olive oils and specialty vinegars. The service here is unmatched as you will get one on one attention, education and tastings. The second time I came back I tried some oils & vinegars. These are not your normal run of the mill boring old oil & vinegars. You are sure to want to purchase something and when you decide what you want to buy you have to pick out the bottle. They have some of the coolest, cutest glass bottles for your oils & vinegars. The bottles aren’t cheap, but you can bring them back for a refill next time you come in. I left with a strawberry vinegar & Basil olive oil which when combined with a little salt & pepper makes the most amazing salad dressing. Did I mention that they also have whiskey? Well they do! And you can taste it for free. I also checked out their wines a little closer and they have a small selection but some interesting bottles. You will find California, Oregon, Italian & French wines among others here and they offer wine tastings on Friday nights so you can try before you buy.
They also have a reward card where you earn points toward free stuff. The liqueurs come in many different sizes so you dont have to spend a fortune on a gift or to add a unique liquor to your home collection to make you look extra cool and sophisticated.
Take my advise and get your ass down to Vom Fass.

Every time I leave Vom Fass I am frustrated. Frustrated because my mind tells me no– but my taste buds tell me YES!!! Vom Fass sells luxury. Luxury in liquid forms. This place is full on baller status. A gift from Vom Fass is sure to impress.
My personal favorites are Sour Cherry Vodka, Lemoncello, and the Pumpkin Seed Oilve Oil.
I wish someone would grant me Carte Blanche @ Vom Fass. A girl can only dream…

Love this place! Great selection of vinegars, olive oils, and liqueurs! Employees are very knowledgeable and give great suggestions! I have tried a few liqueurs but my fav is the Sour Cherry Vodka! So good!

I only wish I’d found this place sooner! This may be one of only a handful of places in the country where you’ll find an authentic German schnapps or liqueur, grappa, eau de vie, etc. Definitely the real deal!

This place is fun, albeit a little overwhelming. I’m a cooking novice so I only have two choices for olive oil at grocers — virgin or extra virgin. So, imagine, me walking into the store with barrel on top of barrel of oils (and more), I felt a little out of my element.
I came in on a weekday with a friend and the staff member on duty was very friendly and helpful. He offered tastings, but we didn’t partake.
Both times I came in we were looking for gifts and found something special and perfect each time. I plan on going in next time for myself as they have some tasty olive oil that sounds great. Also a great stop for libations though we didn’t shop for that on that particular trip.

The candy store for adults!
I went looking for olive oil and vinegar and was ASTOUNDED by the selection! I had no idea there were so many options and no clue how to make a decision. The staff was super helpful and showed me the ropes from narrowing down my choices based on need, to tasting, to selecting the right sized bottle.
If you have a bottle already and just want to fill it, that’s perfectly OK. If you want to buy one there, they have quite a few to choose from. I had no idea that I would need to buy a bottle, but once I understood how the store works, I completely got it.
I cannot comment on the side of the store with brandy and other liqueurs, but I was impressed with the selection, I just didn’t have a reason to buy any specialty liqueurs the day of my visit.
Vom Fass offers wine tastings and a bunch of other tasting and classes for those of us that are beginners and need a little education on the finer things in life.

I love Vom Fass! Shopping here is like an adventure!
It is located on the wonderful little strip in Maplewood on Manchester Rd. among all of the other neat and unique stores.
The customer service here is excellent. When we walked in, we admitted to the associate that we were clueless. He explained that Vom Fass means «from the cask» in German. That it is a franchise that sells olive oils, vinegars, liqueurs, whiskeys, etc. For the olive oil and vinegar they offer a lot of selections of different flavor infused choices. You buy a bottle which can be reused on additional visits.
The liqueur and whiskey is sold pre-​packaged due to liquor laws in Missouri/​US.
Two amazing things about this store:
1. TASTING!!! The associates are really encouraging of you tasting the products. We tasted mostly the liqueur and whiskey.
2. Recipes: they have these little cards for their products with recipes on them. We took one home with us (along with our purchases) and made this really great martini!
Definitely check this place out! It is a little expensive, but think of it like a treat for your kitchen!

I love love love love this store! Great ideas for salad dressing! I came here to find walnut oil for a multigrain bread. Not only did I find walnut oil, but I found pumpkin seed oil which my dad has been trying to hunt down. They have seasonal balsamic vinegars which some of them are quite delish! You can mix & match different oils & vinegars for the perfect salad dressings. Who would have known that basil infused olive oil would go great with strawberry balsamic vinegar??? Major yummyness!

OMFG. This store. Crazy awesome.
I was wandering down Manchester earlier today, in hopes that I could hit up Penzey’s for some cinnamon since I am running low and walked by this place. Noted that it sounded interesting. Realized Penzey’s closes at 5pm on Saturdays (dammit!) and on my way back, decided to stop in here on a whim.
As soon as I got inside, I was immediately greeted by a suuuuper friendly little dude (omg he was so adorbs… think his name was Luke…) who talked suuuper fast. I was having a difficult time following everything he was saying. But I told him I was looking for an olive oil similar to Frantoia and while he hadn’t heard of it, I was able to look it up really quickly on my phone and describe it to him. He pointed me in the direction of a similar-​sounding olive oil from Sicily. I tasted it. It was soooo good. Really liked it. Then he explained to me about how you have to either bring your own bottle or buy one. Realizing that running back to my car to grab an empty, desecrated water bottle was probably not an option, I decided to buy a bottle to put the olive oil in. Looking around, I began noticing more and more interesting-​sounding items for sale. Saw that they had more types of oils besides just olive and decided to get some truffle oil as well and also some grapeseed oil for making popcorn. While he wrapped those up for me, I wandered over to the booze section. Damn. Alcoholic’s paradise. Why did I have to wander in this store!!! Ahhhh my wallet. I had just dropped some serious cash in Maven, so I had to restrain myself here a bit. Except that I didn’t. Go figure.
I tried the wild rose liquor as well as the vanilla. Ended up walking out of there with 100mL of both (metric system FTW) and also a half-​bottle of Malbec for only $ 8.99. I like that they sell half-​bottles here so that way I won’t feel bummed about wasting half a bottle when my boyfriend (who does not drink) will not have any either… (yes I have the air pump to prevent leftovers from oxidizing. But it’s still not as good the next day. What can I say? I am a wine snob who knows nothing about wine!) I wanted to try the apple pie liquor but decided to save that for another time.
I plan to come back here for a wine tasting for sure. He gave me a frequent buyer card because I suppose they wanted me to come back… either that, or I guess I had the look of «unrestrained buyer» glimmering in my eye, lol. Actually, my total came to about $ 55 or so after tax which wasn’t bad for 3 small bottles of oils, 1 half bottle wine, and 2 of the 100ml liquors. You can bring the oil bottles back when they’re empty for a refill (so you don’t have to buy more bottles) but you can’t do it with the booze, sadly. He said it had to do with politics and other lame stuff like that. Lame. Politician losers ruining my alcoholism, lol.
But yeah. Only weird thing? He used the same spoon and same glass for multiple samples. I get that they don’t want to be wasteful but the truffle oil was so strong that it made the grapeseed oil still taste like truffle oil from the residue left on the spoon. I guess I could have asked for a new clean spoon (or ‘accidentally’ thrown my old one out!) but I guess I didn’t care that much. It was nice to taste the rose and vanilla liquors together but I bet they’d blend anything for you so you could try them together… probably.
At any rate, I fucking love this shop and I will return!

Vom Fass is a German franchise.
The store is very clean and well-​organized with its displays of oils, vinegars, wine, brandy, liqueurs, cognac, whisky and other spirits.
Our group of four was greeted and given the «company story» about Vom Fass. Tastings were clearly possible, but weren’t offered. And she disappeared.
Maybe she didn’t want to intrude while we looked around, but we had to go get her for tastings.
When we got her back, three of us were tasting a variety of offerings.
I really wish they offered self-​tasting with those little white cups — like Di Olivas.
At Vom Fass, they draw the taste for you into a little, teensy plastic spoon, then hand it to you. One little twitch on either the employee’s part or the customer’s part is going to make a mess on the floor or on somebody’s clothes.
And, IMO, she was stingy with the tastings, too. Or maybe she was just unenthusiastic overall.
Further, she used the same spoon for all of one person’s tastings. Doesn’t that leave residuals?
I get that the alcoholic beverages may need more monitoring, but vinegars and oils do not.
And she disappeared again. Found other patrons, just as more purchases were about to be had from our group.
Maybe they need more people working on Saturday. Or maybe they need to be more friendly or more generous and less keen on «THE SALE,» because we clearly weren’t buying fast enough.

Oh my god. I came back here on a friend date with some friends who love scotch and vinegar. We were determined to try lots of exciting things.
I am so glad I did! It was AMAZING! Amazing enough for a bump in the stars and a review update!
We tried lots of things and the ones I really want to rave about are 1) the calamansi vinegar and 2) the fig vinegar. Both are SUPER flavorful. The calamansi is wonderfully bright and I can’t wait to use it to brighten up a salad (yes i bought some). Also, the fig vinegar is amazing too! Its very figgy and fairly thick. I want to use it for a goat cheese and fig flatbread. Sounds good, doesn’t it?
The service was as good as it was last time: super helpful and friendly.
I can’t wait to come back again!

My husband and I stumbled into Maplewood because of the comic book store on this strip. We had breakfast then decided to walk down the strip to the comic store… I saw oil, vinegar… WHISKEY! hehe awesome!
It’s so cool in here, just different from everything they have oils and vinegars and whiskeys that you can put into bottles and what not… they even let you try it. They have wine and various gifts and trinkets as well.

I am an… enthusiastic cook.
I’m not a chef and I don’t have formal training, but I know what I like and I like to learn how to solidly cook a dish and then branch out and experiment from there. I’ve been lately hoarding this amazing wild mushroom olive oil that cost me $ 13 for 100 ml, and I easily could get more, but my pocketbook doesn’t really like me all for it. So I’ve been on a mission to see if I could find something just as good… without the sticker shock.
Since I’ve given sets of olive oils and vinegars from Vom Fass to friends (and now actually am super embarrassed by it), I set out for Vom Fass to see if I could find a more reasonable replacement.
So…in reading the reviews, I really think that service in this location is hit or miss. In the ten, fifteen times I’ve been in this store, I’ve never actually ever had anyone ask me if they could help me. I’ve had hellos shouted my way, but I’ve never had anyone come up to me and ask if they could offer me a sample or if I had any questions. Hence, the sets. It’s ok, I think. Your loss in seducing me to hand over my credit card. I walk in on this particular day and there were three employees, one with a group of people by the alcohol section and two by the registers. I wandered around for awhile and then asked them if they had a mushroom oil. The girl told me they had a porcini one. So I asked if I could sample it and two of the vinegars I had my eye on.
I wish I could tell you that what transpired next was what a cook’s wet dreams are made of: sharing of recipes, hints to how to best use an oil, secret ingredients, etc. Yeah, no. She was absolutely so disinterested and unengaged that I felt like I was bothering her. And I felt like she was totally relieved when I made my selection after three samples. It was like, wham, bam, thank you ma’am.
I wish I could also say that my selections in the end were good. They were pretty solid in the store. The porcini ($ 6.59÷100 ml) had a clear, very subtle mushroom taste without any aftertaste. The herb vinegar ($ 1.49/ml) was light without being too tart. The herb vinegar is pretty much standard on salads, but it’s nothing to write home about. It’s the porcini that falls flat. I’ve been using it pretty steadily for the past several weeks and I’ve been really, really disappointed in it. That subtle mushroom taste literally disappears the moment you put it with something: bread, greens, grilled vegetables. It doesn’t impart any flavor if you do something more complicated, like omelets or steak. But the worst part is when you put it on pasta or risotto. For some reason, not only does it taste like regular olive oil, it makes everything gummy and tacky. Added herbs stick to the plate, the fork, even to your teeth. It’s just the weirdest thing. Purported to be an alternative to truffle oil, their porcini is the furthest thing from any close comparison. The only good thing is that I like the bottle? It has a special pour spout so that when you are finished with it, it’s not dripping down the side of the bottle, and this is something that some oil/​vinegar stores do not include. Update: Ok, so now after I’ve written this review, that pour spout has gotten stuck in the cap, and I can’t get it out. Ridiculous. I just cracked open the other bottle and the pour spout was already stuck up there. So I take back my original statement… there is nothing new about the bottle either.
Vom Fass means from the barrel… maybe from the lower half of the barrel, that is. It’s okay for a chain, but there are better oil/​vinegar chains out there, even though Vom Fass is unique in that they sell alcohol too. Prices are more reasonable than at other places, and prices are lower in store than they are on the website. It does cost additional money to buy the bottles ($ 2.99 for the 100 ml), but you bring them back after you’re done with them, and you can reuse them. I’m going to keep trying some of the other oils and vinegars to see if there are any good ones in the bunch, but right now, I’m really not impressed. And I do need to finish getting 10 punches on my frequent shopping card so I can get at least a free oil or vinegar out of my experiences. Otherwise, I can get the same quality for cheaper at the local grocery store. The only reason why it even rates three stars instead of a two and why I’ll go back to try some more is the fact that they are so actively involved in Maplewood events and even host their own cooking and wine pairing classes.

What a wonderful place to shop for gift basket items. Wine, olive oil, and vinegar all make great gifts for some of my friends!
The best part of this store is that they let you taste test just about everything in the store-​wine included! The night I went I sampled about 4 wines and a caramel whiskey! Who knew they would even sell liquor? I was happy to find this place.
They also have a punch card system For every ten items you purchase you get 1 free olive oil or vinegar! How cool is that?
The service was really good and the workers all spent a ton of time explaining the items to me and letting me sample the oils and vinegar; the flavored vinegar is really good-​I would have never known had I not sampled it.
This is a great local store and their prices are too bad-​I found a bottle of wine for $ 10! That’s just in my price range. They do have higher priced items, but just know this is not a place that will break the bank (unless you purchase 1 of everything)!
Go and enjoy!

A super fun, adorable place with really friendly service. However, I just can’t say I love it – I actually somewhat regret going here because once we were in the door and getting the attentive service, we realized that everything just seemed way overpriced. The liqueurs were $ 13 for the pocket-​sized 100ml bottle, and while most of the ones we tried were quite tasty, they just weren’t good enough to justify the price.
I mean, the sour cherry tasted like cherry juice, available at supermarkets at $ 5 for 10x the amount. The rose liqueur tasted like rose macarons and was pretty interesting, but for $ 11 I can get a whole 750ml of Sarracco Moscato wine which tastes orgasmically like rose. And when you consider that 100ml is only enough to mix 1oz shots into three cocktails, well… I’m pretty much only going to be sipping this stuff straight, when I feel like I’ve been good.
As to not leave empty-​handed, we did end up getting a 100ml of orange liqueur. Probably wouldn’t return.

OMG, so wonderful. I had just wrapped up dinner at Crow’s Nest, and passed this on the way to the car. I’d never been inside.
I had so much fun. They have absolutely no problem providing samples, and they’ll also help you with suggestions. I was a little timid, but the guy that helped me was like, I’ll give you a sample of anything you’d like. I just finished writing a review for Teavana, and this place kind of reminds of there, but the employees are helpful and informational, not badgering and nagging. They let you look for a while, and then come over.
BTW, all the times I passed by, I thought they just sold fancy olive and oil and vinegar. Wrong I was. They sell infused oils (not just olive oil based), vinegars, they also have a wine section, they sell liquor (brandy, whiskey, cognac, absinthe (whew!) and others), and also infused liquors that are flavored with fruits and stuff like that. In addition, they had gift sets of prepackaged oil (great gifts for the chef on your gift list), pasta and wine accessories. And there is a variety of alcohol concentrations in the liquors, for example, Absinthe is like 50% (and that’s the weak one), some with 40%, and lower ones like 15%, depending on if you’re a lightweight, or if you want to drink them neat or mix them into an awesome artisan cocktail and impress your friends.
I left with 200ml of Nut Chocolate (think Nutella in liquor form).
Seriously, they are after my heart. Artisan liquor. You had me at «liquor».

One of my favorite little places to visit in Maplewood!
You really only need to know one thing though… taste-​testing! They let you sample the olive oils, vinegars, and specialty liquor. Yes, please, and thank you — may I have another?!? Yes, the answer is always yes!
The staff are super friendly and helpful, and they’re quick to offer guidance when asked. They don’t follow you around or hover, but they’re available as needed.
The store is really just a small shop, but boy is there a ton of good stuff in there! I’m a fan of the various flavors of brandy and Italian wines.
If you like specialty shops, nice wines, love to cook or know someone who does, or you just want to explore Maplewood then make sure to include a stop at Vom Foss. They’ve got a taste-​test sample just waiting for you!