European flavors in a small-town setting

Your tour guides: Lisa Kivirist and John Ivanko, for the Monroe Chamber of Commerce and Industry

From cheese and beer to Swiss cuisine, Monroe, Wis., dishes up a day trip filled with a buffet of memorable local foods and flavors. Located in Green County about 45 minutes south of Madison, Monroe offers a savory history lesson in the art of cheese and beer making set against a backdrop of small-town charm and European heritage. With a little forethought as to how you schedule your day, you can immerse yourself in a culinary getaway that gives you the insider experience of how the Monroe community has been crafting artisanal food and drink for over 150 years—before the state of Wisconsin was even a state.

No matter what corner of Green County you enter as you approach Monroe, you'll be greeted by the area's unofficial mascot: grazing dairy cows. Just as these rolling, fertile green hills lured Swiss settlers in the mid-1800s as reminiscent of the Alpine foothills of their homeland, the population of Green County today still boasts more cows than people. To get the full Monroe day-trip experience, tune into the dairy farmer's routine and start your day on the earlier side of the morning.

Detour onto a county back road as you head into Monroe and wave to the backbone of this community: the hard-working dairy farmer out for the morning milking. Look for speedy silver milk tanker trucks on their morning farm stops to pick up the morning milk. Not surprisingly, the official county mascot is the Swiss Alp boy with his foot on a cheese round.

It's a simple equation in these parts: Milk plus Monroe equals Cheese. Not just "cheese," but "Cheese" with a capital "C," coming from a community where the "Cheesemakers" rule the high school football field and the town population of 10,000 mushrooms to over 100,000 for the biannual Cheese Days festival (the next festival will be Sept. 15-17, 2006). From boasting the last Limburger factory in the country to a variety of award-winning, European-style cheeses, Monroe can slice up cheese no matter if you're an aged Gruyere aficionado or more partial to Baby Swiss.

Your early morning start to your day trip will be rewarded with a first stop at the Alp and Dell Cheese Store (608-328-3355), a large, chalet-style building on the north side of town. Here you can readily view the cheese-making operations at the Roth Kase cheese factory through viewing windows and take part in informal, personal tours and Q&A sessions with Swiss cheesemaker Bruno Hodel and his friendly staff. Cheese is typically made Monday through Friday in the mornings 'til late morning; however, the viewing area is open anytime during store hours. Tutored cheese sampling is encouraged at Alp and Dell, with a tempting selection of both Roth Kase cheese and other area specialties. Don't forget to bring a cooler to store your take-home food selections.

After experiencing cheesemaking in action, develop a deeper appreciation for the craft with a stop at the Historic Cheesemaking Center (608-325-4636) a mile further south on Hwy 69. Located in a restored train depot, you'll often find veteran retired cheesemakers volunteering their time to chat cheese and take you through a treasure-trove of historic cheesemaking tools and lore. Here's the place to ask why Swiss cheese has holes—and what makes cheese curds squeak.

In true Wisconsin fashion, Monroe provides the ultimate complement to cheese: locally-brewed beer. The second-oldest brewery in the country, The Joseph Huber Brewing Company, established in 1845, brews award-winning Berghoff, Huber Rhinelander and other fine beers, plus Blumer's Old Fashioned Premium Sodas. They offer "Taster's Tours" every Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.; call 608-325-3191. Typical of Monroe, this isn't a quick in-and-out, push-you-through kind of tour. Here you'll get to sniff the hops, rub the brew kettle to ensure a great brew and maybe see a "bunging" as a keg is sealed with a special plug. Tour guides share local stories and legends (ask about the 1855 fire where beer was used to keep the brewery from burning). You can linger at the bar in the Founder's Tap Room, the cozy spot where the tour ends and beer and soda sampling begins.

After all that cheese and beer sampling, take a walk around Monroe's Historic Downtown Square. A historic district on the National Register, the Square surrounds a century-old Romanesque courthouse. The Square remains a hub of the social scene in Monroe. You can stop for a raspberry roll at Foxcreek Bakery or hand-made truffles at Chocolate Temptation. A seasonal Farmers' Market takes place on Wednesday afternoons and Saturday mornings. The longest operating cheese store in Wisconsin, Baumgartner Cheese Store and Tavern on the west side of the square, endures as the quintessential tavern where you can get a simple, hearty cheese sandwich and local beer on tap. You'll even have change left over to plug the parking meter on the square (3 cents for 36 minutes). If you haven't sampled Monroe's Limburger cheese yet, here's your chance. And don't worry—it's served with a mint on the side.

You can tour these locations on your own or, for a guided, intimate experience, you can join a Farm to Feast Culinary Getaway to Monroe. These value-priced, all-inclusive package tours are organized by the Monroe Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Packages include cooking classes and tours of a farm, cheese factory and The Joseph Huber Brewery, as well as lodging and meals showcasing local foods and area specialties. Learn how to make an authentic Swiss fondue (hint: always stir the cheese in a figure-eight shape to avoid sticking). Farm to Feast packages are offered select weekends; visit the Farm to Feast Web site or call 800-838-1603 for more information.

For other information about Monroe, call the Monroe Chamber of Commerce and Industry at 800-838-1603.