Get an Authentic Taste of Germany in These Southern Indiana Towns

Among the rolling hills in southern Indiana, you can find a strong and proud German heritage. Throughout the summer months, there are a number of German street fests to choose from on nearly any given weekend, the most popular being the Strassenfest. You don’t have to wait for a festival though. You can get an authentic taste of Germany year round.

Among all of the German restaurants I’ve eaten, the Schnitzelbank Restaurant located in Jasper is an easy favorite. They offer a great selection of German fare and a fantastic salad bar also offering traditional German dishes including pickled herring, German cornbread salad and pumpernickel bread.

If you need an additional endorsement to try out this German restaurant, the Schnitzelbank’s bratwust was deemed the winner of our Super 46 Sandwiches campaign in 2012.

For this visit, my boyfriend, Erik, and I stuck with our usuals. He ordered a breaded pork tenderloin with fries and I ordered chicken livers and German fries. We both opted to start with the salad bar. Have I mentioned the pumpernickel bread? I believe I could survive on that alone!

We also enjoyed some mugs of German beer. Between the salad bar, large portions and beer, we both took leftovers home.

On the way out, we stopped in gift store, which is filled with German novelty items ranging from t-shirts with lederhosen and dirndl to ornate German cuckoo clocks. The Schnitzelbank is open Monday-Saturday, 8:00am-10:00pm Eastern time.

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Before you leave Jasper, make sure you visit these 5 Must Stops.

The next day, my parents and I traveled to Bristow to enjoy a wine tasting at Winzerwald Winery. As they name might suggest, this winery specializes in German-inspired wines. Winzerwald offers wines made from grapes traditionally grown in Germany such as Reisling, Gewurtraminer and Pinot Meunier. They also produce German style wine including Mai Wein – a semi-sweet white wine flavored with Sweet Woodruff, and Gluhwein – a warm mulled wine flavored with spices and citrus fruits.  

Winzerwald Winery if open Tuesday-Sunday, 10:00am-5:00pm Central time. You can also find Winzerwald Winery at many events around the state including the Michiana Wine Festival in Fort Wayne, Vintage Indiana in Indianapolis and Swiss Wine Festival in Vevay.