Heritage Meets Innovation at Widmer’s Cheese Cellars

Widmer’s Cheese Cellars, best known for its authentic brick, Colby, and Cheddar cheeses, has added a line of butterkäse this year. It’s the first product developed by Joseph Caleb Widmer, the 35-year-old vice president of operations for the family-owned company in Theresa, Wis. Those familiar with the company and the family still know him as Joey.

 

A Family Business

“I started making cheese when I was a teenager in high school, but I didn’t know for certain if the cheese business was for me,” says Widmer, who is incrementally taking the reins from his father, also named Joseph Widmer. The older Joe is a Certified Master Cheesemaker who grew the business to a national presence. He is semi-retired now but plays a consulting role, is involved in marketing, and guides private tours. The younger Widmer earned an MBA and spent time learning the cheese industry before joining the family company full-time in 2019. He and his sister Hannah, the company’s office manager, represent the fourth generation of the Widmer family involved in the company founded just more than a century ago.

“It wasn’t a straight linear path to taking over the business for my father or myself,” Joey says. “We both had other interests and dreams, and we were also both granted the opportunity to pursue other things without pressure from the previous generation.”

Both seem to have found their life’s work in the tiny factory on the ground floor of the house where the elder Joseph grew up. Widmer’s was founded in 1922, when John Widmer, having learned to make brick cheese, purchased the factory. His three sons took over in the 1960s, and then Joe joined his father and uncles full-time in the late 1970s.

 

Built on Brick

Brick cheese was popular with German immigrants in Wisconsin when Widmer’s was established, and it quickly became a staple for the company. Brick is typically a washed-rind cheese with flavor and aroma characteristics similar to (but a bit milder than) limburger—a strong, meaty aroma, and a springy semi-soft texture. The name is derived from the use of masonry bricks in expelling whey from the formed 5-pound blocks of cheese. Widmer’s has probably done more to keep the style alive than any other company.

Currently Widmer’s makes a Mild Brick, Aged Brick, and an Aged Brick with Caraway. Through a co-packer it also offers a brick spread and flavored brick spreads. The aged cheese spends more than a week in a curing room, being washed with a cultured bacteria. It is then wrapped in parchment paper then foil, and it is aged for three to five months to develop a more distinctive aroma and flavor.

In recent years, the popularity of Detroit-style pizza has driven demand for a mild brick to be used in the pizza’s cheese blend. Ironically, this has not been a boon for Widmer’s, as other makers have begun to produce less-authentic brick cheese at a lower cost. That’s where the butterkäse came in.

 

Butterkäse

“After seeing a decline in Brick cheese sales, we decided to start experimenting with other cheeses,” Joey says. “We choose butterkäse because it’s a German/Swiss cheese that not a lot of places are making anymore,” he adds, “We currently make plain Butterkäse, Smoked Butterkäse, and Butterkäse with Chives. We’ve also been experimenting with a butterkäse spread.” With some technical assistance from the Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research, the base recipe was developed by January, and production began in March.

“We worked to nail down a traditional recipe, and we are happy with it,” Joey says. “It’s rich, creamy and decadent. You can eat it plain, put it on a burger, and it’s great for melting.”

 

Colby

The company also makes authentic Colby cheese. Developed in the late 19th century, in nearby Colby, Wis., true Colby is a high-moisture cheese with a mild tangy flavor and a soft texture with small mechanical openings. Those distinctions were lost somewhat in the middle to late 20th century, and real Colby like that made by Widmer’s has become harder to find. Widmer’s also produces a full line of Cheddars aged up to 15-years, flavored Colbys and Cheddars, and fresh cheese curds.

Liz Nerud, a St. Paul, Minnesota based cheesemonger, says the Widmer’s product line is a staple for Midwestern retailers, including Kowalski’s Markets where she has carried them for many years. “I am very proud to carry an array of their Cheddars, from one year to 10 years,” Nerud says. “This is the heritage line that I go for, even though I am in love with Hook’s as well. I have the one year the four year and the 10-year, as well as the jalapeno flavored and also the brick spread! I recently began to carry the butterkäse, a gentle flavor but with a marvelous presence of butter and tanginess.”

 

Now & Then

Widmer’s employs a staff of 13 full-time employees and 11 part-time. “We have an excellent hard-working staff that we are extremely appreciative of and would not be able to accomplish anything without them,” Joey says. “That includes all past and present employees.”

Joe says he is thrilled to see the next generation at the helm, and happy to have a little time away from the production floor. “I am very proud of Joey taking over the company the last couple of years and steering it in a much-needed direction, he says. “As I stepped into retirement I didn’t have to worry about the running of the factory because I knew it was in good hands.”

He points to the selection of new packaging and labeling machinery and a move toward exact weight, bar-coded cheeses as some of his son’s accomplishments that will keep the Widmer’s relevant.

“We are now a national company, and our cheeses can be found coast to coast,” Joey says. “My dad did an excellent job of expanding our sales from regional to national. He also started our online and mail order business.”

During Joe’s tenure, the American artisan cheese industry flourished, companies like Widmer’s, steeped in generations of tradition, were joined by start-ups in nearly every state in the U.S. and a community of companies both old and new emerged. While they have different origin stories, the best of them are working to provide authentic, flavorful products consumers were embracing.

On a recent educational tour associated with the Wisconsin Dairy Farmers new Cheese State University, I visited the Widmer’s facility for the first time. It’s just 12,000 square feet and the layout and the cheesemaking artistry has changed little over the decades. Visitors to the cheese shop are just a few steps from the open make room, but full tours are no longer done routinely.

While he loves fostering tradition, Joey says he is also excited about what is happening in the broader cheese world right now, and what’s ahead.

“There are a lot more small artisan factories starting up or making a comeback,” he says. “I think consumers are realizing the nutritional and creative value of small artisan produced products. Not only do they taste better and have less added ingredients, but they also have a story and pride behind the company.”