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Seymour Dairy

New stats released this week by the USDA reveal specialty cheese production is up 9 percent in Wisconsin, with 92 of the 126 cheese plants in the state now making at least one type of specialty cheese.


One company contributing to this significant growth is Seymour Dairy, a new blue cheese plant and the brainchild of Mike Brennenstuhl, champion cheesemaker. Only five years old, Seymour Dairy has already won several awards, including a Gold Medal at the 2009 World Cheese Awards in Gran Canaria for its Crocker Hills Organic Blue.

The Crocker Hills Blue – made from pasture-grazed milk – is just one in an impressive line-up of signature blue cheeses Mike developed in cooperation with the University of Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research. My favorite is his Ader Kase Reserve, a blue cheese crafted in the tradition of German blues, then taken to a new height through a meticulous and intensive aging process.

Although the company itself may be relatively young (it’s housed in the old Beatrice ConAgra plant just on the outskirts of Seymour, Wis.), its three cheesemakers – Mike Brennenstuhl, Ron Laabs and Rob Richter – have more than 100 years of combined experience in making cheese.

During a tour last week for members of the Wisconsin Specialty Cheese Institute, Quality Systems Manager Ron Roethlisberger – an aspiring cheesemaker himself – shared that last year, Seymour Dairy crafted 4.5 million pounds of blue cheese and is on track to produce 6 million pounds this year. All milk comes from small family farms within 40 miles of Seymour, and the plant makes cheese 7 days a week.

Making blue cheese is an intensive process. Ron walked us through the process, from the four, open-air stainless steel cheese vats, where cheesemakers cut the curd by hand, to the brine tanks where the cheeses soak up their luscious salty flavor, to the piercing machine, which can poke holes in 20 wheels a minute, to the flipping tables, where workers flip 7-pound wheels of blue cheese like they’ve been doing it their whole lives. The plant employs 42 people, which is pretty significant in this town of 3,474 people. It’s also growing rapidly – Ron said they had added six employees just in the past 30 days, due to increased customer demand for their award-winning cheeses.

In addition to all of Seymour Dairy’s cheese made on site, all but the crumbles packaging is also done at the Seymour plant, including the cut, wrapping and packaging of the company’s signature triangle-packed 4-ounce wedges. Seymour Dairy blue cheeses sport snappy labels, each color-coded for the style in which it’s made, including:

Green Crest: this Italian style Gorgonzola features a green mold culture imported directly from Italy, giving it an authentic taste. It has a creamy texture and crisp flavor profile.

Blue Crest: this modern interpretation of a classic Danish Blue features a creamy mouth feel and complex flavor profile. This cheese is most often found in crumbles.

Ader Kase: this award-winning blue is crafted in the tradition of fine German cheesemakers. It sports a red label. The Ader Kase Reserve (my favorite) has a black label and is aged at least 6 months. It’s the kind of cheese you take the time to seek out, but then again, with Seymour cheeses, it’s hard to go wrong.

In good news, it sounds like Seymour’s line-up of blue cheeses is set to soon expand, as Mike is working on a new blue cheese unlike anything his plant is making now. He hopes to have it on the market by Christmas. Can’t wait!
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Weber Dairy

Ever passed through a farmstead dairy drive thru to pick up your week’s supply of fresh milk, plus an ice cream cone for the ride home?

Located just 3/4 of a mile outside Marshfield, Wisconsin at 9706 County Road H, Weber Dairy features a retail farmstead store built next to a set of silos with a wooden wagon and fiberglass cow statue sitting outside. It is the stereotypical, picturesque Wisconsin dairy farm, complete with red barns and green tractors, with a state-of-the-art milk bottling facility and very efficient farmstead dairy store, featuring a drive-thru window.
I pulled in on a Saturday afternoon, attempted to find a place to park on the gravel driveway between the line-up of cars going through the drive-thru, and another set of cars belonging

to customers who were inside shopping. The gal working the counter was amazingly keeping up with the traffic flow — selling bags of milk as fast as humanly possible out the drive-thru window, and making ice cream sundaes and cones for the customers standing inside.

A little background: Weber Dairy started in 1904 when Peter and Elizabeth Weber purchased the farm. It was later purchased by their son, John, who then sold it to his son, John, one of five children that delivered raw milk and cream door-to-door until he purchased in in 1951. In 1955, Weber’s Farm Store was established as a retail outlet, and customers brought their own milk containers until 1959, when the law changed and Weber’s began bottling milk in glass bottles. Shortly after, a drive-thru window was started for faster service, and ever since, about 90 percent of the store’s business has occurred through that window.

In 1973, the glass bottles were converted to plastic bags. Today, they’re available in 1/2 gallon pouches, bundled together so you can buy a gallon of milk at a time. The family produces, processes and retails their milk from their herd of 260 Holstein cattle, all in the same location, and even sells cheese from its sister cheese plant, Nasonville Dairy, a result of an addition to the business in 1995, when Ken, Kelvin and Kim Heiman purchased the enterprise. Ken’s wife, Joellen (Weber) Heiman, manages the store.

The business is renowned in the Marshfield area, with just about everyone you talk to buying their milk at the farm, most cruising through the drive-thru window six days a week from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. After ordering a “small” ice cream cone that was the size of my arm from my wrist to my elbow, I drove into Marshfield to visit a new retail wine & cheese shop owned by Chuck McCauley. I had heard about the shop – called Market on Sixth – from a friend who gave it rave reviews, so wanted to stop by and check it out.
I had expected a little hole in the wall with a few bottles of wine and a dozen cheeses, so you can imagine my surprise when I walked in and was greeted with a vast expanse of hundreds of wines from around the world and an impressive cut-to-order cheese counter featuring 50 of the best Wisconsin artisan cheeses being made today.
Liz, the manager, must have taken notice of my dropped jaw, because she immediately came over and asked if I was new to the store. She gave me a great little tour, explaining with enthusiasm the different wine and cheese selections, and gave me a flyer with upcoming events. All I can say is – wow – what an awesome shop. If you live anywhere near the Marshfield area, it’s a must-see.
Market on Sixth is featuring Saturday wine tastings on May 15, June 19, July 17 and August 21 and hosting a few classes, open by registration only. I’d recommend the “Midsummer Wine & Cheese Festival” on August 7. Call 715-387-2000 for more info.
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The More You Know

Three things I learned last week about the world of cheese: 1) the more you learn, the more you realize you don’t know; 2) cheese pees; and 3) cheese can have nipples.


I garnered these extremely important bits of vital information as hundreds of cheesemakers and industry experts from around the globe descended on Madison, Wis., for the International Cheese Technology Exposition. All you had to do was stand in one place at the Alliant Center at any given time to hear at least three different languages being spoken, all in the name of cheese. Ah .. just think if I could speak French or Italian – I could have learned even more!

Thursday’s 2010 World Champions Awards Banquet was especially moving – as cheesemakers from around the world flew in to Wisconsin to claim their gold, silver and bronze medals. The table of Swiss cheesemakers sitting next to me – all dressed in traditional Swiss clothing – seemed to have a VERY good time, whooping it up whenever a Swiss cheesemaker took the stage for an award.

Later, I was privileged to be part of a cheesemaking seminar with French Cheesemaker Ivan Larcher and Mateo Kehler, of Jasper Hill in Vermont. Ivan and Mateo taught us the science, chemistry and art of making Munster cheese from the Alsace region of France. All of the assumptions we had about making cheese in the U.S. were challenged – everything from cooking and cutting the curd, to sanitizing our surroundings, to aging cheese once it’s out of the mold.

Much of the course was extremely technical, with flip charts on acidity evolution, aging bacteria and coagulation gradients. While the 12 cheesemakers in attendance – two of them Wisconsin Master Cheesemakers – soaked up the knowledge like sponges, my eyes pretty much glazed over. But I did learn two things: cheese can pee, and if aged incorrectly, cheese can develop nipples.

This highly technical information actually came up earlier in the week, as several cheesemakers gathered at a local cheesemaker’s home, talked shop, and drank a large amount of Lake Louie beer. I learned that Cheese pee comes from big wheels of Swiss, when crafted with too much acidity, actually crack during the aging process. They “weep” or “pee” Swiss cheese juice, and in a day or two, can fill half a glass with such pee. Apparently it tastes pretty good. I brought up the idea of marketing cheese pee, but was greeted with completely blank stares and the advice to have another beer. Oh well.

Cheese nipples are another story. Apparently when cheese is drained improperly during the aging process, it can actually form little buds of moisture on the rind, which Ivan, with a completely straight face, deems “cheese nipples.” I googled “cheese nipples”, hoping to learn more, but actually learned WAY more than I wanted to about Welsh film makers who made a shoot-em-up short film called “Operation Cheese Nipples.” Catchy theme music, though. That’s nine minutes of my life I’ll never get back. Think I’ll go back to learning about cheese.
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My First Cheese Curd

The man who made the very first fresh cheese curd I ever ate will be honored next week as a Life Member of the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association.


Cheesemaker Mike Moran runs Wisconsin Dairy State Cheese factory in tiny Rudolph, Wis. He began his career alongside his father in 1962, when the family bought the plant. Since then, Mike has grown the business into one of Wisconsin’s most innovative manufacturing plants and probably the busiest retail cheese store you’ll ever visit in a town of 423 people.

I first visited Mike’s plant back in 1993, when I was dating the man who would eventually become my husband. On a weekend trip to meet his parents in Wisconsin Rapids, we made what I would discover was the obligatory Saturday morning jaunt to the nearby Rudolph cheese factory. The Morans are known for not only making some of the best cheddar, jack and co-jack in the state, but for making fresh cheese curds six or seven days a week.

Along with the giant pile of cheese we bought, my husband threw in a bag of fresh cheese curds – still warm from the vat, and we ate them in his car on the way home. Believe it or not – at the age of 21, it was the very first fresh cheese curd I had ever eaten. Warm, squeaky, clean, salty – I ate so many that I later threw up in his mother’s bathroom (great way to make a first impression on the future in-laws, by the way).

Today, my in-laws run Ricky’s Bar & Bowl in Rudolph just down the street from the Wisconsin Dairy State Cheese Factory, so needless to say, whenever we visit, we stop at the cheese factory first. Mike is almost always there, greeting customers, working the counter, scooping ice cream or managing the floor.

On a recent trip, my daughter and I were standing in front of the huge looking glass windows between the retail store and the cheese plant, and I was attempting to explain the cheese make process to my less-than-thrilled teenager. Mike must have seen me pointing and talking to Avery, trying to engage her in the process, so he promptly came out of the make room to greet us and say hello. He wanted to know if we had any questions.

My daughter explained to him that her lame mom was trying to tell her how cheese was made, but that he could probably do it better. So for the next 15 minutes, one of the busiest people at Wisconsin Dairy State Cheese explained to a 13-year-old how fresh milk is made into a cheese curd. And he did it with passion – like it was the first time he had ever told the story to anyone. We bought a lot of cheese that day, and my respect for Mr. Mike Moran grew to a new level.

Today, Mike is joined in the family business by his brother Dave, his son, John, and his daughter, Jill. Known for his modesty, Mike is known and respected across the Wisconsin dairy industry. In fact, in response to this award, his family penned this statement: “Mike is very passionate about his commitment to the dairy industry and strongly believes in continuing a tradition of excellence in the cheesemaking process.”

Well said. Congrats to the Morans and Wisconsin Dairy State Cheese.
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Four Years Later

Happy day, cheese fans. In calendar news, I just realized that four years ago this month I started writing about Wisconsin cheese here on Cheese Underground. About 260 posts later, one might wonder if I’m in danger of running out of material.

Nope.
In fact, there’s so much going on today that you’re going to have to settle for a Monday mash-up. Here’s the scoop, people:

Edible Madison to Launch in June: one of my favorite people, Jamie Johnson of Soldiers Grove, Wis., has launched her own company and magazine, celebrating the food of southern Wisconsin. Way to go, Jamie! Edible Madison will be a quarterly publication focusing on our region’s food and agriculture and will feature stories about local farmers, food producers, chefs, food educators and forward-thinking organizations that are behind the region’s dynamic local food movement. In exciting news, I’ll be writing a regular Wisconsin cheese column starting with the Fall issue, and a launch party is being set for June at Fromagination in Madison. Whoo-hoo!
Red Barn Family Farms Heritage Weis Cheddar: another one of my favorite people, Dr. Terry Homan, the veterinarian who started his own milk bottling company called Red Barn Family Farms, is now producing a great-tasting Cheddar. Called Heritage Weis, it’s a true cheddar that’s hand-milled and cloth-wrapped made by the folks at Springside Cheese Factory in Oconto Falls, Wis. It’s mostly available in Wisconsin — see a list of retail locations. Dr. Homan is the founder of the Red Barn Rules — a list of animal care rules that farmers supplying milk to Red Barn must follow. These rules go above and beyond the American Human Association certification, so you know the milk that goes into Heritage Weis is coming from happy cows.
Carr Valley Cooking School: A series of nine cooking classes at Carr Valley Cheese in Sauk City kicked off this month. Classes are a great chance to meet your favorite chefs, and taste their creations using Carr Valley cheeses. Each class costs $45 and is well worth the price. I’m signed up for the May 20 “To Dream or Not to Dream” class with Chef Jason Gorman of The Dream Dance restaurant in Milwaukee. We’ll be getting “A New Perspective on Steak and Cheese.” Yum – my two favorite food groups. More info or sign up here.
Kelley Country Creamery to Host Grand Opening on June 19 — I’ve been waiting for this date to be announced and you can bet I’ll be there. The Kelley family will open the doors of their farmstead ice cream factory on Saturday, June 19 with farm tours, free samples and kids’ activities. Karen and Tim Kelley, and their five children, operate a 200-acre farmstead dairy near Fond du Lac, Wis., and milk 65 Holsteins. That milk is being readied to turn into amazing ice cream in such flavors as Kelley’s Irish Cream, Karen’s Crazy Cake, Pitch Fork Pistachio and Country Bumpkin Pumpkin. Stay tuned for more info, but save the date now.
And that’s the news for this Monday. See what I mean about never running out of material? There’s just too much stuff going on in America’s Dairyland.
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Next Generation Cheesemaker

A 25-year-old woman planning to make cheese on her family farm is the recipient of the first-ever Wisconsin Licensed Cheesemaker Scholarship, a $2,500 award provided by Wisconsin Cheese Originals.

After using the scholarship money to earn her cheesemaker license, Katie Hedrich plans to rejoin her family and help construct a farmstead cheese plant and retail store at LaClare Farm near Chilton. With a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Northern Michigan University, and a degree in accounting from the Fox Valley Technical College, Hedrich is preparing herself to not only craft high-quality farmstead cheeses, but to also manage the marketing and business side of the operation.

“Ten years from now I will be the head cheesemaker and creamery manager at my family’s homestead creamery,” Katie stated in her award-winning scholarship essay. “I will be making a complete line of Wisconsin original goat milk cheeses, from fresh bloomy rind cheese to raw aged cheeses. I would like to be the first female Master Goat Milk Cheesemaker.”

You go, girl.

Wisconsin Cheese Originals is an organization I started last year in an effort to help grow and promote the Wisconsin artisan cheese community. As an organization, we (and by we, I mostly mean me and the people I talk into helping me – my husband, my daughter, my various exchange daughters who, every year, come to live with us not liking cheese and leave as cheeseheads — ahh, mission accomplished) host seminars, tasting receptions, cheesemaking tours and the annual Wisconsin Original Cheese Festival, scheduled this year on Nov. 5-7 at the Monona Terrace in Madison, Wis.

In fact, the scholarship is the direct result of first-ever Wisconsin Original Cheese Festival last year, in which I actually made a little money. Whoo-hoo! As I didn’t do the event to make a profit, I instead decided to offer a scholarship to a burgeoning cheesemaker with plans to make it an annual award, because really, the goal of the scholarship fund compliments the goal of the organization: which celebrates Wisconsin’s original cheeses and helps connect consumers to farmstead, artisan and specialty cheesemakers.

I was a little nervous in offering the scholarship – I mean, who wants to throw a party and not have anyone come – but was amazed to receive nine absolute stellar applications from aspiring cheesemakers by the March 15 deadline. I then gave copies of each application to my five-person scholarship committee (made up of industry leaders and cheesemakers) and asked them to pick the recipient.

Needless to say, I am absolutely delighted that Katie is the first scholarship winner. I’m very much looking forward to following her career and tasting her Wisconsin Original cheeses in the coming years. Congratulations, Katie!
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Grilled Cheese Academy

The folks at the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board are getting ready to roll out their latest brainchild to sell more Wisconsin cheese, and it’s actually pretty cool. The Wisconsin Grilled Cheese Academy is a “microsite” – touting the tastiest and most sublime gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches ever to grace a plate.


Easy to use and visually appealing, the site provides 30 recipes for some of the most innovative cheese sandwiches you’ve seen yet, ranging from classic and elegant to fun and weird. My favorites:

The Sergeant Pepper — pepper jack, cheddar, roasted cauliflower and caramelized onions. Yum.

The Lisa Marie — butterkase, peanut butter and bananas. Kudos for thinking outside the grilled cheese box.

The Appleton — cheddar, fresh apples and salted caramel sauce atop a slice of brioche. Double yum.

The site also has a “Tips” section, providing info that’s pretty useful when making a grilled cheese. For example, it’s almost always better to grate or shred your cheese when making a grilled sandwich. You’ll see a smoother, faster and more even melt. Also, it’s easier to grate cheese when it’s cold, so grate it right out of the fridge, and then let it sit out to room temperature before making your sandwich. It will melt better when it’s a bit warmer to begin with.

So all in all, a thumbs up from this grilled cheese lover. The only thing left to ask is who is the woman doing the voice overs? Let me know if you figure it out.
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The Rebirth of Liederkranz

Following a 25-year hiatus, a Wisconsin-based cheese distribution company announced today it will reintroduce the one and only Liederkranz, an American replication of Germany’s Limburger cheese, first made famous by a New York cheesemaker in the 1800s.


DCI Cheese in Richfield will partner with Chalet Cheese Cooperative in Monroe (the only cheese plant left in the country making Limburger) to make Liederkranz (pronounced “LEE-duhr-krahntz”), an American-made, surface-ripened stinky snack cheese. It should be available for purchase by month’s end in specialty stores across the Midwest.

Liederkranz is an American replication of Germany’s Limburger cheese, made subtly different by the use of a distinct bacterial culture for ripening. It has the same texture and unique aroma as Limburger, but features a distinctively robust and buttery flavor. Similar to Limburger, it’s made in small, rectangular blocks and has a moist, edible, golden yellow crust with a pale ivory interior and a heavy, honey-like consistency.

The marketing gurus at DCI say Liederkranz is particularly well complemented by dark bread and dark beer and can be used as an appetizer, on salads or sandwiches, or with fruits. As the cheese matures, the crust turns golden brown and the cheese a deeper color. Both flavor and aroma become much stronger.

Liederkranz has a long and colorful history. It was created in the late 1800s by Emil Frey, an apprentice cheesemaker at the Monroe Cheese Company in Monroe, New York. The owner, Adolphe Tode, also ran a successful New York delicatessen. At the time there was a heavy wave of German immigrants and Tode received many requests from them for Bismarck Schlosskäse, a traditional soft, smelly cheese. Due to inadequate refrigeration, much of this delicate cheese spoiled in transit. To meet the demand, Tode challenged his company’s cheesemakers to duplicate the popular German cheese. After years of experimentation, Frey stumbled upon a spreadable, Limburger-style product.

The first samples of this new cheese were taken to the famous New York City singing society, the Liederkranz Club, whose members were patrons of Tode’s deli. When they pronounced it wonderful, the cheese was named “Liederkranz” in their honor. Translated from German, the name means “wreath of song” (which is I guess, a good thing??)

After a series of ownership changes, production was moved to Van Wert, Ohio, in 1926. This aided the cheese’s distribution, bringing it closer to its biggest purchasers: the Midwest’s heavily Germanic population. Liederkranz was last manufactured in Ohio, but disappeared from the market in 1985, no doubt losing its dwindling market share to its cousin, Limburger.

In good news, with the rebirth of stinky cheese connoisseurs in the United States, DCI Cheese has apparently decided now is the time to reintroduce this infamous cheese, which I think is great. Stinky cheese is back, baby.
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Wisconsin Legend: Dave Small

Carr Valley Cheesemaker Dave Small is a Wisconsin industry legend whom you most likely have never heard of. And, as a matter of fact, that’s been just fine with Dave. I have no doubt that if he would have had his way, he would have probably preferred to remain completely anonymous until the day he retired (if that day ever actually arrives, that is).

You see, Dave has spent the past 50 years making cheese for the same company at the same cheese plant in tiny LaValle, Wis. And for a cheese geek like me, that’s just too good of story to pass up. So when I found out that Dave was being honored at a dinner last Saturday night at the infamous Jimmy’s Del-Bar in Wisconsin Dells, I jumped at the chance to go. For two hours, I got a glimpse of what it was like to work with Dave for 50 years, as 30 of his closest friends, co-workers and family members gathered to celebrate a big-hearted guy named Dave Small.
Dave’s boss, Master Cheesemaker Sid Cook, his fiancee, Lisa, and senior administrator Patty Koenig, hosted one of the nicest dinners I’ve ever seen in the private Garden Room, and presented Dave with a one-of-a-kind crystal cheese trophy, thanking him for his 50 years of dedication. After talking with Dave and his co-workers, one begins to wonder if, in another 50 years, Sid will be handing Dave another trophy.
At age 69, Small – like most cheesemakers who work in a cheese sauna for 12 hours a day, does not look anywhere near his age – started working for the Mueller Brothers (what Carr Valley was called before Sid Cook bought it in 1986) as a 19-year-old back in 1960. (Former owners Don and Bernice Mueller were at Saturday night’s dinner and looked to being enjoying themselves). I asked Dave, if at age 19, he ever thought he’d be working for the same place for five decades. He gave me a perplexed look and said, “I guess I’ve always enjoyed it, so I stayed. When you work with good people, you don’t look for another job.”
Actually, it turns out that both the Mueller Brothers and Sid Cook must be amazing people to work for, as nearly everyone in the room Saturday night had worked for them for decades. After making polite conversation with the man sitting across from me, I learned Mr. Louis Nachreiner had been working for the LaValle plant for 53 years — yes, 53 years — as the dairy field rep. He had actually started as the dairy field rep for the Sauk Milk Improvement Cooperative back in 1957, when there were 11 cheese plants in the Sauk County area. Today, only three remain – Carr Valley, Cedar Grove, and Mill Creek – and Louis still services them all.
And, while many of the people in the room were close to retirement, one guy caught my attention, as he had to be at least 30 years younger than most of the others sitting around me. I asked him his name and found out that at age 22, Mr. Bob Koenig, had already been working for Carr Vally for nine years (yeah, I know, do the math).
Bob helped out at the cheese plant after school for a few years, and then earned his cheesemaker’s license at age 16 under Dave Small. He’s been making cheese for Carr Valley ever since. Turns out Dave’s trained quite a few cheesemakers over the years, and still works 12 hour days fairly often. Sid says it’s hard to get him to go home, as Dave lives in a house literally 100 feet from the plant.
“He’s a hard worker, a dedicated cheesemaker and a good friend,” Sid said about Dave on Saturday. “He’s one-of-a-kind and I’m lucky to have him.” And from the sounds of it, Dave will be making cheese for a few more years. He has no plans to retire.
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World Champion: Swiss Gruyere

An international panel of expert judges may have named a Swiss Gruyere as the 2010 World Championship Cheese today, but Wisconsin cheesemakers still captured 21 of 79 gold medals during the three-day contest.

Cheesemaker Cedric Vuille, who operates Fromagerie de La Brevine in the Swiss village of La Brevine near the border between Switzerland and France, took top honors out of 2,318 entries from 20 countries for his Gruyere. Out of possible 100 points, Vuille’s cheese scored 98.79 in the final round of judging, during which judges re-evaluated all gold-winning cheeses to determine the champion. (Note that this is updated info – the contest sent out a correction on Friday with the correct name of the cheesemaker).
First runner-up in the contest, with a score of 98.52, is Andeerer Traum, a smear-ripened hard cheese made by Sennerei Andeer company in Switzerland. Second runner-up is Gmundner Berg Premium, a semi-soft cheese, made by Alois Pesendorfer Crew, of Gmunden, Austria, which scored 98.46.


Overall, U.S. cheesemakers dominated the competition, earning gold medals in 51 of the total 79 categories judged. Canada and the Netherlands came in second among the countries, with five golds apiece. Denmark had four gold medals, while Austria, Spain and Switzerland all took three. New Zealand won two gold medals, and Australia, France and Ireland each captured one apiece.

Among U.S. states, Wisconsin dominated with 21 gold medals. New York took six golds, while Idaho earned five and California four. Vermont capture three golds, Georgia and Pennsylvania two, and Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, New Jersey, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon and South Carolina each took one gold medal.

Today’s announcement of the World Champion wrapped up an amazing three days here in Wisconsin, as Madison was lucky enough to host the contest right in my backyard. On Wednesday night, Wisconsin Cheese Originals partnered with the contest to host a tasting spectacle called Wisconsin Vs. The World.

About 300 people sampled and compared 15 international cheeses vs. their Wisconsin artisan cheese counterparts at the sold-out celebration, all the while meeting dozens of renowned cheese judges from around the world, as well as 11 award-winning artisan Wisconsin cheesemakers, all sampling their best of the best.

My favorite international cheese was an Aged Cheddar from Ireland, which was all decked out in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. Cheese cutter volunteer extraordinaires Sara Hill, Patty Peterson, Dee Wideman and Chris Luken (who by the way did all the prep work on 15 world cheeses – THANK YOU) carved the Irish cheddar block into a giant “I”, topping with feather boas and beads. Poof! Instant cheese party.


The evening ended only as a Wisconsin cheese event should: with cheesemaker Willi Lehner, of Bleu Mont Dairy, closing with his famous Swiss yodeling. I only got the last part on video, but it’s worth it:

All in all, this week was a good one to live in Wisconsin. Good cheese, good company, and a chest of gold medals. Rock on.