National Historic Cheesemaking Center Keeps Heritage Alive

National Historic Cheesemaking Center Keeps Heritage Alive

Swiss immigrants brought eighteen heifers and three calves to New Glarus, Wisconsin, in 1846. That was the beginning of what eventually grew into a rich cheese making heritage in Green County. Once home to 300 cheese factories, the number has dwindled to 12 today. However, Green County is still one of the nation’s leading cheese manufacturers. The National Historic Cheesemaking Center in Monroe, Wisconsin, shares Green County’s cheese making history with visitors. Read more

The Accordion Lives on at Turner Hall, Monroe WI

The Accordion Lives on at Turner Hall, Monroe WI

Turner Hall exteriorTurner Hall was once the place to be in Monroe, Wisconsin. People lined up around the block hoping to get into the hall where dances were held several times a week. National greats like Lawrence Welk, Wayne King and Frankie Yankovic played at Turner Hall, and locally popular accordion player and songwriter Rudy Burkhalter was a fixture there. People may not be clamoring to get into Turner Hall these days, but on the third Tuesday of each month the Ratskeller Restaurant, in the lower level of the building, often books solid. It’s the day that accordion players, along with a few musicians playing banjos, horns or other instruments, come together to jam during Squeezebox Night.

Accordians1

Mouth piano

I had the pleasure of dining and chatting with John Waelti, freelance columnist, retired college professor and Monroe native, at the Ratskeller Restaurant on a Squeezebox Night. While I enjoyed my kalberwurst dinner, John filled me in on the history of Turner Hall.

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Restaurant emptyThe original Turner Hall was built in 1868 by Swiss immigrants. “Turner” is the German word for “gymnast.” The architecturally plain building served a double purpose. It included both a dance hall and a gym. The building burned down in in 1936. It was replaced with the current building, a Swiss Emmental-style chalet, and includes a dance hall, gym and bowling alley upstairs and the Ratskeller Restaurant downstairs. I didn’t get a chance to see the upstairs while I was there, which I understand was beautifully restored a few years ago. I was told the wood floor has a give to it making it perfect for dancing. In 1982 Turner Hall was listed on both the National and the State Registers of Historic Places.

Historical memorabiliaRudy Burkhalter is a name that came up time and again while I was in Monroe. Born in Basel, Switzerland in 1911, Rudy began playing the accordion at a young age. He was able to easily duplicate tunes he heard played on the radio. Rudy attended the Basel Music Conservatory where he learned music theory and composition. He played at the Chicago World’s Fair where he met his wife Frances. The couple eventually settled in Monroe, Wisconsin, where Rudy taught accordion lessons. Several of his students went on to play professionally, including Roger Bright who played with Frankie Yankovic. One of the songs that Rudy Burkhalter wrote was the “Cheese Days” song for the bi-annual Green County Cheese Days festival, which celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2014. Rudy wrote the words, but the tune is borrowed from an old Swiss folk song.

JohnDid I mention that my dinner partner, John Waelti, plays the accordion, too? As a young boy, John was a student of Rudy Burkhalter but then lost interest. John retired in 2005 after a career that culminated in a department head position at New Mexico State University. He returned to his roots in Monroe and picked up the accordion again with renewed interest. He often plays at events with accordion partner Bobbie Edler. The night I was there both John and Bobbie played with the dozen or so who turned out to jam, playing mostly polka music. When they played “Cheese Days” song, it seemed everyone except yours truly knew the words and sang along.

Bobbie and Banjo playerRestaurant filled

During the entertainment I sat with a few women who filled me in on more Monroe Swiss culture. It’s amazing that in a transient age so many have stayed put in a town of 11,000 people. It could be they are involved in the area’s dairy, cheesemaking or beer industries, or it could be that Monroe is within commuting distance to Madison and not far from Milwaukee, Chicago and Rock Island. Some leave but return again for their retirement years.

I wondered whether the accordion tradition would continue after the evening’s entertainers, who for the most part are seniors, are no longer able to play. The accordion isn’t usually the instrument of choice with the young folks. Then I learned that a 91-year-old banjo player had taught himself to play at the age of 65. John Waeiti picked the accordion back up after he retired, and he said he knew of a teenager who is learning the accordion.

Turner Hall may not be as popular as it once was, but there are still plenty of Swiss cultural activities held there, along with wedding receptions and other events. Accordions and polkas aren’t as popular as they once were either. However, both have survived, and with the spirit I witnessed in Monroe, Wisconsin, I imagine both will be a big part of the Monroe’s Swiss community for years to come.

Turner Hall is located at 1217 17th Avenue in Monroe, Wisconsin. The Ratskeller Restaurant is open Thursdays through Sundays. Check the web site for restaurant hours, Swiss heritage events and information on bowling.

Disclosure: My visit to Turner Hall was hosted by the Green County Tourism, but any opinions expressed in this post are my own.

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Tour Minhas Craft Brewery and Minhas Micro Distillery, Monroe WI

Tour Minhas Craft Brewery and Minhas Micro Distillery, Monroe WI

The brewery burns for seven hours, and the fire is put out with “green beer.” The owner is kidnapped by the mob during Prohibition. These are things movies are made of, but they are true events in the history of the oldest brewery in the Midwest and the second oldest in the nation. You’ll learn about these stories during your tours of the Minhas Craft Brewery and the Minhas Micro Distillery.

Minhas Craft Brewery Tour
The Minhas family has owned the Monroe, Wisconsin, brewery for less than ten years, but the  history goes back to 1845 when Mr. Bissinger opened the Monroe Brewery. If you grew up in the Midwest, you may remember the Joseph Huber Brewing Company, Augsburger beer and brewmaster Hans Kestler from radio commercials in the late 1970s and early 1980s. This is the same brewery.

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In the beginning, beer was brewed only in the winter and produced only few hundred barrels per year. Almost 170 years and several owners, name changes and expansions later, Minhas Craft Brewery produces 275,000 barrels each year, and as of June 2014 was on track to brew 325,000 barrels for the year.

You’ll start your tour in the Lazy Mutt Lounge, where you are welcome to sample the beer and munch popcorn while watching an introductory film. Don’t worry about not having time to sample enough because you’ll have more time for that later.

Brewery tastings

The tour then moves outdoors, where your guide will point out the two separate buildings divided by a street. The beer is brewed in one building and then sent through a tunnel beneath the street to the bottling building.

Brewery tour - outdoors

Inside the brewery, your guide will talk about the ingredients that go into beer, including barley grown in Wisconsin, and about the entire brewing process. We weren’t able to go into the brew house on the day we toured for safety (and comfort) reasons since the kettle reaches temperatures of 225 degrees.

As the tour continues across the street with the pasteurizing and bottling processes, your guide will point out the different processes used for cans and bottles. At the end of the tour you’ll be given a six-pack that includes four different beer brands, a bottle of root beer and a keepsake glass.

Afterward you may go back to the Lazy Mutt Lounge for more beer and/or soda tastings and to browse the gift shop and the museum rooms, where walls are lined with beer advertising artifacts. Even the ceiling in the ladies room is covered with beer labels.

Brewery gift shop

Brewery museum 2

Ladies room ceiling

Minhas Micro Distillery Tour
The Minhas Micro Distillery opened in 2012 in space formerly used by the brewery. Gather first in the tasting room, where you can begin tasting the spirits.

Distillery tastingsThe tour officially begins with an introductory film describing the distilling process, followed by a short tour of the small distillery and the bottling process, which is far less automated than the brewery bottling process. You will receive a full-size bottle of alcohol, as well as your tasting glass, to take home with you

Be sure to stick around afterward to go back to the tasting room and gift shop where you’ll see Godstilla, the 1,000 gallon still.

Stillzilla

To survive the Prohibition years, the company made ice cream and near beer, among other ventures. To make near beer, full-strength beer first needed to be made and then the alcohol removed. The dealcoholizing was done in a back room. The original sign for that room now hangs in the distillery tasting room.

De-alcoholizing sign

Instead of dumping the alcohol from the near beer down the drain, it was sold on the black market, in Chicago mob territory. When the mob found out about it, they kidnapped the  owner, Fred Blumer. While tasting spirits after the tour, you’ll be treated to a film that will capture your attention about the 1931 kidnapping. The tasting room happens to be Blumer’s former office.

The Minhas Craft Brewery is located at 1208 14th Avenue and the Minhas Micro Distillery is located at 1404 13th Street in Monroe, Wisconsin. Tours are conducted daily and cost $10 each; however, the take-home gifts alone are worth that amount. Check the web site for times and further details. Note that photos are not allowed in production areas.

Disclosure: My visit to Monroe, Wisconsin, was hosted by Green County Tourism, but any opinions expressed in this post are my own.

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Cheese Days 100th Anniversary Preview: Monroe, Wisc.

Cheese Days 100th Anniversary Preview: Monroe, Wisc.

WedgieMark your calendar. Make your hotel reservation now in or near Monroe, Wisconsin. If the preview I attended in June for the Green County Cheese Days 100th anniversary is any indication, you’ll be in for a real treat the weekend of September 19-21, 2014. Green County promises tremendous fun in the true Green County Swiss way: sausage, beer, polka, yodeling, and of course, cheese, lots of cheese.

The history
Inspired by Sauerkraut Day in Forreston, Illinois, Cheese Days was started in 1914 to attract visitors. Attract it did. 4,000 people attended that first festival where 13,000 cheese sandwiches were served and folks were entertained by vaudeville acts. The festival was held sporadically at first, skipping five and ten years at times, until in 1970 it was decided to hold the festival every two years. Today more than 100,000 people attend the biennial event.

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The food
At the preview I sampled the Monroe Optimist Club’s deep-fried cheese curds, touted as the best cheese curds you’ll ever taste. I have to agree. And the only places you can get them are at the Cheese Days Festival and the Green County Fair, so it’s no surprise to hear there’s always a line for them.

Cheese curds

I also tasted a creamy, gooey gourmet grilled cheese sandwich (with secret sauce), cheese and chocolate pairings, locally made Greek yogurt, bacon bratwurst and Bratzeli cookies made with a batter in an iron the same as many similar European cookies, but wafer thin and crispy. I sipped local beer and locally made root beer. These goodies are just the start of what will be offered around the square and in the Hospitality Tent at the September fair.

Cheese and chocolate pairing

Cheese and chocolate pairing 2

Demonstrations and roylty
A few Swiss craft examples were on hand, including paper snipped into intricate patterns in a method called Scherenschnitte and a demonstration of chip carving.

Chip Carving

Carving

We were introduced to both Cheese Days royalty and the Green County Dairy Queen and Princess.

Queen and princess

The entertainment
John Waelti and Bobbie Edler entertained with accordion music at the preview and accompanied teen yodeler Cammi Ganshert. Tony Zgraggen also entertained with a solo yodel and then later joined the rest of the New Glarus Yodel Club for another performance. Watch the video below for snippets of the preview entertainment.

Much more at Cheese Days
At the September 19-21 festival, you’ll also see old time copper kettle cheese making demonstrations, cheese carving, a cow milking contest and a big parade sponsored by The Swiss Colony. Get your photo taken sporting a milk mustache at the Family Farm Adventure tent, tour a dairy farm, or take polka lessons.

For the full schedule and list of vendors for the September 19-21 event, see the Green County Cheese Days web site.

Disclosure: My visit to the Cheese Days Media Preview was hosted by the Green County Tourism, but any opinions expressed in this post are my own.

Thank you for reading Midwest Wanderer. Don’t miss a post. Enter your e-mail address below and click Subscribe to be notified whenever I publish another post. Subscription is FREE. After subscribing, be sure to click the link when you get the e-mail asking you to confirm.   – Connie