Sustainably-Minded Vinegars from Germany: vomFass, From The Cask

“Vom Fass” is a German phrase that means “from the cask” — which is apropos for a company known for producing a large range of vinegars, and various oils, sold through refilling stations at their 280 shops in 28 countries, including many branches in the US for the past decade, from San Francisco, to Charleston, SC, to Wisconsin and more on the way. The idea is that after you finish a bottle of vinegar, you can just clean it and bring it back to the store to fill it up again—so that you’re only paying for the product, not the packaging. This idea won the brand a Green Franchise Award in 2022. 

For founder Johannes Kiderlen, who started by producing alcohol in the 1990s, it wasn’t until an unexpected shipment of sherry wine arrived that vomFass embraced surplus and built a sustainable business model making vinegars. Based in Wallberg, Germany, south of Munich and just north of the Austrian border, Kiderlen noticed that he was surrounded by incredible fruit growers, with pristine apples, pears and raspberries all around him. Having studied winemaking, Kiderlen thought to himself, “if one can make such amazing vinegars with grapes, we should be able to make great products with different fruits”. E.g. sour cherry, quince …

vomFASS Logo on bottles

Today, vomFass makes all of its own fruit wines before transforming them into acetic acid. The vinegars are initially fermented in stainless steel tanks and then a handful, including apple, honey, and beer, are barrel-aged for many months, instilling more mature flavors, but vomFass didn’t limit themselves to nearby orchards and groves. The world was ripe with inspiration, plus it’s part of the great social enterprise at hand.

Consider their cacao vinegar — it’s part of Koa Impact, which helps source cacao fruit pulp that would otherwise be wasted. vomFass is in essence creating a new revenue stream for farmers in Ghana; profits from the product give further education to workers and schooling to children. The same goes for Preda in the Philippines, where vomFass buys its mangoes, and many chef’s favorites: calamansi vinegar. Both vinegars bring balsamic-like qualities to the table, the mango, a juicy tropical note, while the calamansi is bright and floral, with lemon-orange-lime flavors. Because of their syrupy nature, they can be used straight on salads instead of classic vinaigrettes. The most inspiring aspect may still be how vomFass does it all with full transparency. Customers can seed trace back to the source, “see where we buy our products from, to see how much goes back to the farmers,” says Tom Kiderlen, Johannes’s son and now CEO.

“With all the stores combined, we refilled over 600,000 bottles, as well as recorded a reduction CO₂ emissions [by nearly 51%], compared to the previous year,” says Tom. Their sustainability efforts go well beyond reusing glass. At its headquarters, a rainwater retention system is used to maintain green spaces, and part of the building has been converted to use renewable energies for heating and charging battery-electric vehicles, further reducing its carbon footprint. 

WHile vomFASS celebrates its 30th anniversary this fall, it’s not just their environmental initiatives that should be celebrated — their fruit is foremost. Within every bottle of vinegar, vomFass shows us a path to a brighter future.