In Wisconsin, we celebrate these 30 days each year as June Dairy Month, and you had better believe that such is a vitally important industry in Wisconsin.

What better time could there be for a “Dairy Day” trip to historic Green County? This is a county where its national reputation for cheese making is combined in the picturesque Swiss-cultured city of Monroe with its beer brewing.

The local Minhas Craft Brewery, many years known as the Joseph Huber Brewing Company, is the second oldest continuous operating brewery in the United States. This brewery, to quote a brewing historian, continues to brew up a damn good story that began in 1845.

But first, let’s explore the “cheesy” part of fascinating Green County, tucked away among the hills and valleys directly below Madison and almost touching the neighboring state of Illinois.

Wisconsin cheese makers produce more award winning cheeses than any other state or even foreign country. Where is much of this cheese produced? Of course, Green Co.

There was a time when every Wisconsin county and most of its hamlets had at least one cheese making facility. Many early farm wives learned the art of cheese making and did so in their own kitchens.

South central Wisconsin’s landscape of rolling up and down terrain is especially conducive to dairy farming and thus came much cheese making. Today, there remain 13 cheese factories and direct retail outlets sprinkled throughout Green County. Among other types, they manufacture Limburger, Brick, Baby Swiss, Colby, Cheddar, Muenster, Farmers, Butter Kase, Fortiago, Gouda, Jack ‘n Jill, Ementaler, Lacey Swiss, Stettler Swiss, Havarti and several Hispanic varieties.

Six cheese factories have Monroe addresses; others are located in nearby communities. But in the heart of Monroe in a restored railway depot, the National Historic Cheesemaking Center allows visitors to experience

an era that was and that, sometimes considered regretfully, will never be again. It is here that all-comers learn about cheese making from raw milk to the finished product. It is especially interesting to learn about how Limburger and Swiss cheeses came to be and how they still are.

We’ll divert from the historic theme for a moment to inform you about the Chalet Cheese Co-Op, about five miles northwest of Monroe (take Hy. 81 one mile and four miles on Co. Rd. N to N4858). It remains the sole Limburger cheese production factory in the entire United States. It is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and Saturday, 8 to 10:30.

Now back to the historic cheese center, called the gateway location to Green County. At the National Historic Cheesemaking Center, veteran cheese makers and knowledgeable guides lead daily tours. They offer colorful stories about cheese, cheese makers and the Monroe area history.

Historians in Green County, wishing to preserve cheese making history and to create a shrine to the dairy industry, formed a unique partnership with Historic Monroe for both organizations to occupy an aging Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway System depot that would be restored. The National Historic Cheesemaking Center first opened there in 1994.

Directors became quite busy collecting interesting items and artifacts. A replica factory even was built within

the building. These artifacts and pictures tell the very interesting, yet simple, story of dairying from viewpoints of farmers, milk haulers and cheese manufacturing.

It requires 100 lbs. of milk to make eight lbs. (on average) of Swiss cheese. Another cheese, Muenster, is made at a rate of 100 lbs. of milk to

produce 12 lbs. of cheese.

Whey, the left over or spent grains, makes up 80 to 85 percent of all the poundage left over. The whey, once mostly a treat for the pigs of the farmers who sent the raw milk to the cheese makers, today has found many new uses in human and animal consumable products.

It requires about 10,000 pounds of milk to make 1,000 pounds of cheese.

Green County’s first real cheese maker was Rudolph Benkert, who came to Monroe in 1867 and began making Limburger cheese in his home and curing it in his home’s basement.

By 1922, Wisconsin had 2,807 cheese factories. By last count, Wisconsin still has 116 cheese factories, with 13 of these in Green

County. They produce over 2.3 billion

pounds a year.

In Monroe, you might hear that beer and cheese go together just as

bread and butter. And for many in the Monroe area, beer and cheese still are “bread and butter” providers.

While we have dwelled on the various tasty wheels, wedges, slices, cubes and curds, the bounty of Green County has numerous other taste bud whetting possibilities. These include the Minhas Craft Brewery, 165 years young and still producing the amber colored beverages as a craft and fiercely independent brewery.

Yes, the local brewery is interesting enough, but who among us knew that it is the 14th largest brewery in America and is now under the guidance of the youngest brewery owner in the world? He’s Canadian Ravinder Minhas and he works with his sister Minjit Minhas.

While Minhas took over the reins at age 26 just a few years ago, the brewery, itself, is the second oldest in the United States. You’ll find it at 1208 14th Ave.

Most certainly, Green County is home to beer and cheese; homegrown would be an apt description. Only the hops so necessary to the brewing process are imported from the state of Washington.

You name it and Minhas produces it – specialty and seasonal beers, others beers that made Monroe famous, the Lazy Mutt Farm House Ale and the ever popular Swiss Amber All Malt Ale. He also produces many others, such as Berghoff, Rhinelander, Huber, Huber Bock and the light versions of Huber and Rhinelander, all gold medal winners in World Beer Championships. Minhas also controls the once famous Augsberger recipe, although none is in production now.

Roots of the Minhas Craft Brewery grow deep. In fact, the brewery was alive and well long before its distinguished appearance at the Green County Courthouse with its arched portfolios, polished marble and granite, built as an architectural masterpiece for all time in 1891.

But was it really christened that year with the then locally brewed and popular Adam Blumer’s beer? The Blumer family either co-owned or owned the brewery from 1885 to 1939.

Briefly:

It was a Mr. Bissinger who founded the brewery in 1845. And by 1848, production had increased to 300 barrels a year.

Other owners included Edward Ruegger, Jacob Hefty, Adam Blumer, Carl Marty, Joseph Huber, Fred Huber, Smith and Werle, back to Fred Huber and, finally, in 2006 to Ravinder Minhas.

In 1931, Adam Blumer, a member of the brewery family, was kidnapped, taken to Chicago and held for ransom. Police, in a shootout, captured the kidnappers as the ransom, first asked at $150,000, was about to be paid at $6,000.

In 2005, almost 154,000 barrels of various name brand beers were produced at the brewery. This year, 300,000 barrels are in sight.

During Prohibition, the brewery produced soft drinks, ice cream and near beer (non-alcoholic).

Under the Minhas leadership, its Mountain Creek Classic became the fastest growing beer brand in the region in 2004.

With tours done, guides winded and tired, we tarried a bit at Baumgartner’s Cheese Store and Tavern, the oldest continuous operating such place in Monroe. We had been too busy for what was bally-hooed as a great noon lunch at the Turner Hall Ratskellar (American cuisine and Swiss specialties). However, we were impressed at Baumgartner’s and its 1930s style appearance and amusing signage.

Not only were the beer and cheese great; the atmosphere, helpfulness, friendliness and the smiles all around helped make Monroe a delightful place where world championship beers and cheeses continue to be made on a daily basis. It is easy to discern that there is tremendous pride in their heritage, their crafts and the festive atmosphere of everyday life. A visitor can easily tell that these people are “as real as” their beer, cheese, candy, ice cream, baked goods and locally made sodas.

Monroe, with a population of about 11,000, is also the home to Swiss Colony products, the original Brennan’s Market and Roth Kase Cheeses.

An interesting sideline to the brewery, but fabulous in content, is the Haydock Beer Memorabilia Museum connected to the tour center. Herb and Helen Haydock are among the foremost – if not the greatest – collectors of beer memorabilia and advertising artifacts from the mid-1800s to the mid-1960s. The museum items cover more than 1,800 sq. ft. It is said to be a “must see” for any persons interested in breweriana.

While visitors will have to wait until Sept. 17-19 for the annual Green County Cheese Days, this month (June) finds Cars on the Square June 11, Hot Air Balloon Rally June 18-20 and the Pork Producers BBQ June 30.

Yes, yes, yes! Monroe is distinctly Swiss, but don’t expect to learn how to yodel on your first visit.