Delicious Delights Bratwurst Heaven With Wurstmeister Mike Sloan

Wurstmeister Mike Sloan serves up award winning Germanic European style meats at two locations in Missouri in a can’tmiss experience for any meat lover.

Those passing through on I-70 between Kansas City and St. Louis are in for a unique and flavorful experience: bratwurst, bacon, and other Germanic European style meats at Wurst Haus Market and Restaurant. When it comes to bratwurst, Sloan is an artist in the kitchen as well as a crusader for his beloved German sausage with its distinctive flavor profile, often featuring notes of nutmeg, coriander, ginger, caraway, and other spices.

Sloan is not shy about his ambitions, good-naturedly proclaiming, “I want to be the Colonel Sanders of bratwurst.” He now serves his hearty meals and German-styled sausages in decidedly American-sized portions at the Wurst Haus Market and Restaurants in Hermann and Fulton, Mo. Both locations are a short 1015 minute detour off the busy Interstate 70.

For those who haven’t brushed up on their German recently, ‘wurst’ means sausage, and ‘haus’ – well, that one is obvious. The two restaurants more than live up to their name, serving up a culinary bounty of Sloan’s 45 flavors of bratwurst and 12 flavors of bacon, among other mouth-watering offerings like beer marinated brisket, house smoked turkey, and even German bologna.

Sloan and his wife Lynette have a combined 70 years’ experience creating specialty meats. All sausages and bratwurst are handcrafted inhouse.

chefs, Sloan is particular about where he sources his meats. Sloan has formed many relationships with local farmers and most of the beef, pork, chicken, and turkey he purchases is from farms within a 300-mile radius. Sloan also has his own meat processing facility. In addition to handling the meat for his own businesses, he processes deer for hunters and livestock for local farmers and ranchers.

“We were farm-totable before we even knew what farm-to-table was,” says Sloan.

Over the years, Sloan has accumulated more than 600 international, national, state, and regional awards, including 15 best-of-show honors and 29 international awards from the German Butcher’s Association in Frankfurt, Germany. His most recent award of national recognition was at the American Cured Meat Championships (ACMC), held in July 2023 in Charlotte, South Carolina. Sloan won Reserve Champion for Venison Soppressata. NY is the epitome of the meat industry and sausage makers. It’s where it all started,” says Sloan.

His passion for creating both traditional and new sausage flavors, and for curing bacon, is equal to his devotion to delivering an authentic German experience for his guests. The warm-toned, wood-tabled dining hall lined with cold cases filled with meat, and wooden barrels hanging from the ceiling invite a party atmosphere which includes the enticing smells of marinating and roasting meats.

Rounding out the offerings of Wurst Haus’ bountiful menu are house-brewed craft beers and specialty sodas made with real cane sugar, along with Sloan’s wife Lynette’s family recipes of delicious side dishes. The tasty sides of German Potato Salad (packed with bacon), Red Cabbage, Onion and Cucumber Salad, among others are ample in size to make meals by themselves. A variety of cakes – including German Chocolate - are available for dessert.

The brats and Sloan’s never-ending quest to discover new taste combinations are reason enough to make a pit stop.

“We have so many different flavors that were not even thought of 15 years ago,” says Sloan. “One of the brats that we make, our number one seller, is a caramelized pear and Gorgonzola cheese bratwurst. As soon as we tell people it’s made with caramelized pears and Gorgonzola, their mouths start watering before they have even tasted it,” he adds.

With other mouthwatering choices like the popular bacon, potato, and cheese bratwurst, the jalapeno bacon bratwurst, along with many other delicious combinations, Sloan encourages you to double orders and take extra home. For those with late-night cravings for after hours, stocked vending machines are located outside the Hermann Wurst Haus. For more information: www.hermannwursthaus.com/