Cheese Trail

The Brisbane House is one mile from the Arena Cheese Factory--cheese curds are a must when in Wisconsin! You have to take a photo of yourself next to the giant mouse and send to us to post on our Instagram! Five miles to the east, in Mazomanie, is Carr Valley Cheese store. Cheddar Grove in Plain offers tours and you can learn about their earth-friendly practices. Stock up on award-winning cheese and make your own charcuterie board with some of Wisconsin's best. As a native Wisconsinite, this is a highlight of any central Wisconsin stay.

 Your innkeepers/owners, Don and Dorothy Harms, welcome you to stay with them at their farm and enjoy a relaxing getaway from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. A working Wisconsin dairy farm - learn firsthand about a farmer's daily job producing milk and then visit Carr Valley Cheese - just 6 miles away to see local farmers' milk transformed into award winning artisan cheese. 

There are a number of cheese factories/cheese stores in Sauk County, where you can get those fresh squeaky cheese curds to those finely aged cheeses.

1.  Carr Valley Cheese Company, S3797 County Road G, La Valle, WI 53941, 608-986-2781, Mon-Sat 8am-4pm - One of America's finest award winning specialty cheese plants with more than 100 delicious cheese varieties. Fresh curds daily. Self-guided tours of 100 years of family cheesemaking. Observation window.

2.  Cedar Grove Cheese, E5904 Mill Rd - Plain, WI 53577,  608-546-5284,  Mon-Sat 8am-4:30pm - Specialty and organic cheeses since 1878. Fresh curds daily. Call ahead for viewing tours including the innovative "Living Machine" water treatment system. Group tours welcome. ($3 adults. Groups of six or more should call ahead).

3.  Arena Cheese, Inc., 300 US Highway 14, Arena, WI  53503, 608-753-2501, 8am-6pm - Arena Cheese is the home of the original Co-Jack Cheese and is easily recognized by the mouse in front of the cheese and gift store. Arena Cheese provides a viewing area so you can watch our artisan cheese maker making different varieties of cheeses. Samples of some of our various cheeses are available for your tasting pleasure and a narrative of the cheese making process is available with an advance notice.

Cameo Rose is in the heart of Southern Wisconsin's Cheese Trail. Sample award-winning products at Landmark Creamery in nearby Paoli (5 minutes north) or head south (15 min.) to New Glarus for Edelweiss Cheese shop. Then continue on south to Monroe for Alp & Dell Cheese Store which is adjacent to the Emmi-Roth Creamery and its "Best in the World" cheese as well as many other fabulous selections.  Use our state cheese map to tour and taste your way around numerous local cheese factories and shops.  

A picturesque short drive from our Inn, you will find Union Star Dairy outside of Fremont. This is one of the few privately owned and operated small cheese factories in Wisconsin. Each and every small batch of handcrafted cheese is a unique work of art - prized for distinctive richness, flavor, texture, and aroma. Sample, tour, learn the art of cheesemaking and purchase some of the finest products to take home! Also a very short drive from our Inn, is Weyauwega Star Dairy Inc, where some of the finest bulk cheese in Wisconsin and "Our Wisconsin Finest" All Beef Summer Sausage is offered. They have been in the cheese business for over 30 years and are also family owned and operated!

Visit the amazing Old Fashioned Cheese Store, just 4 miles away in Mayville, WI. Over 500 cheeses. Yummy variety of meats, wine tasting and fun little gifts to choose from. Also, escape to Widmer's in Theresa, a cheese factory in operation for over 80 years. Choose from 70 varieties of cheese and sausage. Watch the cheese being made as you shop the retail store. Tours by appointment only.

Old Country Amish Dairy Cooperative and Pasture Pride Cheese of Cashton, WI make the best Juusto cheese!  The milk comes to factory in 80 pound cans from Amish farms where cows are milked by hand. Cows are grass fed.  Milk is never mechanically pumped preserving the wholesome butterfat structure and lending a silky unctuous quality to every cheese that Pasture Pride Cheesemakers create.  There's a perfect wine in our gift shop to pair with your selection of Pasture Pride Cheese you bought at their store just 12 miles from our resort.

"Because life without cheese is like a kiss without the squeeze"

Additional cheese for sale: Organic Valley, Cashton; Nordic Creamery and Westby Creamery, Westby; Carr Valley, La Valle; Cedar Grove Cheese, Plain and Arena Cheese, Arena.

l Pasture Pride cheeses are crafted with the freshest milk from cooperatively organized Amish dairy farmers. They are called the Old Country Amish Dairy Cooperative. Tucked into the coulee region of the Upper Mississippi River, and populating the adjacent landscape of the Driftless region, these Amish farmers are dedicated to traditional grass based dairy and hand milking.

Each Amish farmer is milking about 12-15 grass-fed dairy cows each, and their fresh milk is brought to the creamery daily in old-fashioned milk cans.

The goat milk is also collected daily on the family farms and delivered in old-fashioned milk cans.

Hand-milking ensures that all the milk used to make Pasture Pride Cheeses is never mechanically pumped, preserving the wholesome butterfat structure and lending a silky unctuous quality to every cheese Pasture Pride makes.

You can taste the difference. This is what we know our customers taste and expect from Pasture Pride Cheeses.

Cedar Valley Cheese Store—located just outside Random Lake, Wisconsin, on Highway 57—carries 300+ varieties of Wisconsin cheese. It also offers other Wisconsin-made products such as: ice cream, milk, jams and jellies, sausage, wine and even Cheesehead apparel. The store specializes in Mozzarella, Provolone and string cheese, which are made at the family-owned Cedar Valley Cheese Factory next door.

Our Best-Selling Products Include: String Cheese, Cheddar Cheese Curds, Mozzarella, Cheddar, Pepper Jack, Colby Jack, Provolone, Bellavitano, Swiss and Brick

Our Cheese Trail includes Pine River Dairy at www.pineriverdairy.com More than 250 varieties of cheese available, plus indulge in a 25 cent ice cream cone. Award winning butter and cheese spreads also.  Everythiing is Better with Butter. 

Also, Henning's Cheese Factory at www.henningscheese.com  A fourth generation family owned cheese factory.  Enjoy the free museum and a wide variety of samples. Located 30 minutes south of Manitowoc .

Millers Cheese House. Rice Lake

The Rochester Inn is the perfect starting point to explore Wisconsin's cheese heritage...in fact, we're located just 15 minutes from Plymouth, the Cheese Capital of the World!  Enjoy a variety of treats at the Plymouth Cheese Counter at the Dairy Heritage Center.  Another local favorite is Gibbsville Cheese, where you can watch cheese being produced at the factory store - a package of their fresh cheese curds is a 'must'!  To complete your experience, stop in at the Cedar Valley Cheese Store, located just outside Random Lake, & explore their 300+ varieties of Wisconsin cheese.  

The more than 100-year-old, award-winning Carr Valley Cheese Company's cheese plant and store in LaValle is 55 minutes from us. See artisanal cheese being made the traditional way through a viewing window. Call ahead for a tour. Owner and fourth-generation cheesemaker Sid Cook North America's most awarded cheesemaker. Sample and stock up at its stores in Sauk City and Wisconsin Dells, each 20 minutes from here. Or attend the Carr Valley Cheese Cooking School classes held at the Sauk City store.Cedar Grove Cheese in Plain, a factory and store, is a scenic, 50-minute drive from here. See cheese being made the old-fashioned way and learn how this small-scale operation is better for the environment, farmers and consumers. Tour its innovative, wash-water treatment facility, to see how wash water is cleaned in a beautiful and biological way.Arena Cheese in Arena, along the Lower Wisconsin River between Mazomanie and Spring Green, is the home of the original Co-Jack cheese. Purchase numerous cheeses and see cheese being made. 45 minutes from here.Spend a day making a loop from our inn to visit all three. Relax along the scenic drive through Sauk County's wooded hills dotted with the small farms that supply these cheese plants. Complement your cheese tour by stopping at Wollersheim Winery in Prairie du Sac.Enjoy these local delights during our wine and cheese hour each evening.

In addition to seven local artisinal cheese makers (Mullins, Bletsoe's, etc.), Wausau is home to one of the finest cheese shops in Wisconsin.  Navieve Fromagerie is just 1/2 mile from the Stewart Inn.

If you don't mind a bit of a drive, Marieke Gouda is located in Thorp, WI and is known for their award winning cheese. Marieke Penterman and her team at Marieke Gouda handcraft traditional Dutch Gouda using the time tested, Old World, cheesemaking methods Marieke brought with her when she emigrated from the Netherlands.  Marieke transforms farmteas-fresh, raw, cow's milk from her family farm into award-winning cheese.  The Marieke Gouda store, cheese and barn observation areas are open 7 days a week. 

A bit closer to the Inn in Stanley, WI you can visit LaGrander's Hillside Dairy.  LaGrander's Hillside Dairy is committed to producing superior cheese products that exceed all quality standards and customer expectations.  Award winning Colby, Colby-Jack, Pepper Jack, Monterey-Jack, and Cheddard cheese are LaGrander's specialty, along with the best fresh cheese curds around.  Family owned and operated since 1960.

Area cheesemakers include Carr Valley, Arena Cheese, and Cedar Grove Cheese Factory.  Cedar Grove is an especially interesting tour, as they use a "Living Machine" to naturally clean their wastewater before it's returned to nature.

Lake Ripley Lodge is close to Kraemer Cheese Watertown,  Fromogination, and Famous Babcock Dairy at UW Madison with Cheese and Ice Cream.

We can't forget about Mullens Dairy Bar in Watertown!