There’s nothing more Wisconsin than combining beer and cheese. Down in Monroe, you can find a lot of cheese options, but only Emmi Roth is home to a recent World Champion cheese. And just blocks away at Minhas Brewery you’ll find the oldest brewery in the Midwest. Spending a day at these two spots is basically the most Wisconsin you can get.
Roth cheese in Monroe produces some of the best, tastiest cheeses in the world. With a presence in Switzerland and Wisconsin, they combine old-world European techniques with unique and unusual flavors and have become one of the premier world cheesemakers.
In fact, in 2016, Roth's Grand Cru Surchoix cheese was named the grand champion at the World Champion Cheese contest. The cheese received a near-perfect 98.88 out of 100 and was the most recent Wisconsin cheese to earn the top honor in the cheese world.
The Wisconsin cheese ended up earning 127 awards at the Championships - 40 of them first places in their class. They accounted for nearly 40% of the awards given. It was the sixth consecutive championship where the Dairy State accounted for about a third of the prizes.
The Roth family knows cheese. They began cheesemaking in 1865 in Uster, Switzerland. That's more than 150 years of cheese making experience, and they've been in the United States since the turn of the 20th century. It's a gorgeous, amazing location and the cheese is some of the very best tasting in the world.
There's also a large cheese store here where you can sample all kinds of delicious products and stock up for your fridge at home. Maybe bring a cooler so you can really bring home all the most delicious cheeses in the world.
This chalet-style spot is a really interesting place to visit and customers can see the cheese being made up close and personal. They say their cheesemakers get started early, so it's best to head there before 1 p.m. to see the cheesemakers in action.
Once you've watched the cheese being made and filled up on samples, you'll walk just a few short blocks to Minhas Brewery to sample some of the best beers in the area!
They've existed under a number of different names, but this brewery has been in Monroe since 1845 - since before Wisconsin was even a state! With more than 150 years of experience, you know you're going to get tasty brews that have stood the test of time.
This place is the second-oldest brewery in the country and one of the most historic anywhere. It's survived all kinds of changes, from the Great Depression to the recession, and have come out on the other side. It has gone by Monroe Brewery, Blumer, Huber, and Minhas, and throughout the name changes the commitment to being local and small has remained the same.
A tour lasts an hour, costs $12 and includes a take-home pack of four beers, a soda and a pint glass. You'll be able to hang out in their Lazy Mutt Lounge as well as have time to visit the on-site The Herb and Helen Haydock World of Beer Memorabilia Museum.
This collection has more than $1 million worth of brewery advertisements and lithographs dating back to the mid 1800s-era. You'll also see tap handles, growlers, model cars, trucks and trains. It's a truly unique and awesome experience. You'll love spending the day in Monroe that's basically the perfect Wisconsin day.
