This story was last updated Oct 31, 2024.
It’s not just something we wear on our heads. In the Dairy State, we take cheese seriously.
Wisconsin is home to dozens of artisan cheesemakers who create hundreds of types of cheeses.
Whether you want to follow the brick cheese road for a day, or make a weekend of it, we rounded up the best cheese factories to visit in Wisconsin– from national award-winners to local gems.
MORE: If Wisconsin Were a Country, We’d Rank 4th in Total Cheese Production, & Other Cheesy Facts About the Dairy State
LaClare Creamery, Malone
W2994 County Rd HH
Photo courtesy of LaClare Creamery
Most dairies make cheese from cows’ milk, but LaClare is all about the goats. Check out a goat cheesemaking operation on a self-guided tour of the creamery. LaClare sources all of its goats’ milk from within 15 miles of their farm! With it, cheesemakers produce more than a dozen types of goat cheese, including truffle, cranberry cinnamon, blueberry, and maple bourbon.
Cedar Grove Cheese, Plain
E5904 Mill Rd
Cedar Grove Cheese specializes in a wide variety of organic cheeses, and prides itself in its commitment to environmental responsibility. The factory uses a greenhouse it calls the “Living Machine” to naturally cleanse its wastewater of contaminants. Take a tour and sample Cedar Grove’s cheeses while learning more about this incredible process.
Marieke Gouda, Thorp
200 W. Liberty Dr.
Marieke Penterman has been making authentic Dutch gouda from her small farm since 2002. From June through August, she opens her facility to the public for guided tours. Don’t leave without filling your car with various flavors of aged gouda made with fresh milk from the cows at Penterman Farm.
Union Star Cheese Factory, Fremont
7742 County Rd.
Union Star Cheese Factory has been turning milk from local farms into premium cheese for more than a century. The factory offers 30-minute tours that end with fresh cheese curd samples. Arrive early in the day for the freshest curds. And before you go, visit the cheese shop to choose between more than 40 varieties including cheddar, muenster, Colby, and brick.
Old Country Cheese, Cashton
S502 County Rd. D
Old Country Cheese’s is famous for its muenster cheese curds and its use of canned milk. Located in the heart of Wisconsin’s Amish country, cheesemakers use 120,000 pounds of milk from more than 230 nearby Amish farms every day to make their 20+ varieties of cheese. Old Country is one of the last remaining cheese factories in the US that uses fresh can milk– a difference cheesemakers swear you can taste. Take home some hard-to-find Juusto, or “bread cheese”, common in Finland and Sweden.
Bass Lake Cheese Factory, Somerset
598 Valley View Trail
The family-run Bass Lake Cheese Factory has been handcrafting cheese since it was first established in 1918. don’t make cheese every day, so if you want a tour, you need to call ahead to find out their cheesemaking schedule. You can visit the cheese shop every day, where you will find a wide variety of cheddar cheeses and a selection of other cheeses including swiss, Colby, Monterey jack, Havarti, and more. For a special treat, try their chocolate cheese!
Silver & Lewis Cheese Coop., Monticello
W3075 County Rd. EE
Silver & Lewis Cheese Coop. has been making cheese for more than 120 years, with recent owners taking control in 2005. Today they make up to 14,000 pounds of cheese each day from approximately 55,000 pounds of milk from 24 local dairy farmers. Most of their cheese is private label and gets sent to distributors. However, you can visit their factory store to buy various kinds of cheese, especially variations of muenster, farmers, and brick.
Scray Cheese Factory & Shoppe, De Pere
2082 Old Martin Rd.
Originally started by Belgian immigrants in the early 1900s, today’s Scray Cheese Factory & Shoppe is a fourth-generation family-run operation. Scray Cheese uses milk from local family-owned farms handcraft, various types of cheddar, edam, fontina, and gouda cheeses. They do not offer formal tours at their factory, but you can watch them make and package their cheese from viewing windows in the shop, which opened in 2009.
MORE CHEESE:
- Wisconsin’s top 8 cheeses, according to local chefs
- The do’s and don’ts of cheese pairing, from a Wisconsin expert
- We found Wisconsin’s best cheese curds across 7 categories
- 3 Wisconsin cheese shops to visit on a budget
- 6 steps to building the perfect cheese board
- The best cheese shop in Madison, according to UpNorthNews readers
- The cream of the crop: Madison’s 4 best cheese curd spots
