Cheese Shops in Monroe, WI (Taste Before You Buy)

The cheese shops in Monroe, WI, are built on one idea: you taste before you buy, and then you leave with more than you planned. The four stops in this guide, a Swiss-run cheese shop, a catalog company's outlet, a 1931 tavern with a cheese counter and a cheesemaking museum, sit between about 0.5 and 1.3 miles of each other, so a morning is enough to cover them.

Monroe has called itself the Cheese Capital of the USA for a long time, and the Wikipedia entry for the city repeats the nickname. For everything else on the map, from the square to the brewery, start with the wider Monroe visitor guide.

Alp & Dell: where you can watch the cheese being made

Roth Kase opened in Monroe in 1991 and merged with the Swiss Emmi group in 2010, according to the National Historic Cheesemaking Center, which traces the family's roots in Swiss cheese back to 1863. A Monroe Times piece says Tony and Esther Zgraggen bought the store in 2009, and a Milwaukee Magazine visit from May 2025 describes an A-frame roof and lacy white curtains that give it an Alpine look. The store's site lists a 2016 World Champion Cheese, Roth Grand Cru Surchoix.

Reviewers mention whole wheels of Emmi Roth cheese, a bargain bin of marked-down cheese, and plenty of samples. One long-time visitor felt the shop has lost some of its small-store personal touch, and another noted there is not much parking. The store's site lists a cheese and wine pairing every Saturday, a Swiss patio for sitting outside, and UPS shipping if you need to send cheese home. It is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, per the store's site.

The Swiss Colony Outlet: catalog treats at catalog-clearance prices

The company behind it began in 1926, when Ray Kubly Sr. sold 50 packages of cheese by mail from his family's basement after a business professor suggested the idea, according to the University of Wisconsin. Swiss Colony says it was founded in 1926 and started with fine Wisconsin cheeses before adding sausages, baked goods and confections. The university reported in 2016 that its parent, Colony Brands, was the largest employer in Monroe.

The outlet is closed on Sundays and open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. the other six days according to the store's profile, so this is the weekday-friendly stop. It is about 0.5 miles from Alp & Dell and about 0.6 miles from the square. Bring the cooler in summer, because a discounted cheese log still has to survive the drive home.

Baumgartner's: the cheese counter with a tavern attached

Reviewers mention a Limburger and braunschweiger sandwich paired with the root beer the tavern pours on tap, a Lindbergh cheese sandwich with spicy mustard, and an Italian beef that one diner called the best he had tasted. One visitor who stopped around opening time walked around the town square afterward, which is a fair plan for the afternoon. Tasting Table notes that the cheese's smell comes from surface bacteria while the flavor is mild and nutty, and that one employee said it took him six months to finish a whole sandwich.

Google lists a free parking lot and free street parking, a menu for children, and takeout. Posted hours run from 8 a.m. on weekdays to 9 p.m., later on Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, so confirm before a late visit. It is about 0.9 miles from Alp & Dell and about 0.6 miles from the Swiss Colony outlet. One cheese sandwich rarely settles a big appetite, and the rest of lunch and dinner is easier to plan from the list of places to eat in Monroe.

The museum that explains the wheel on your plate

The museum's own site lists seasonal hours of 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Thursday through Sunday, May 1 through October 31, so it is closed for the winter at the time of writing. Its history page notes that more than 300 cheese factories operated in the countryside during the 1900s. The first Wisconsin Limburger factory opened in 1868, according to the museum. The museum sits about 1.3 miles from Alp & Dell and about 0.9 miles from Baumgartner's.

The timing of a visit matters here: the Green County Cheese Days celebration on the square, held in even-numbered years, is the one weekend when the whole town turns into a cheese festival.

Out in the country: Limburger and the factories that do not have a shop

Chalet Cheese Cooperative, on County Road N outside town, was founded in 1885 and is described by Travel Wisconsin as the sole producer of Limburger in the United States. The cooperative's page gives a phone number and says nothing about tours or a shop, so treat it as a place to know about and call ahead rather than a drop-in stop. Klondike Cheese Co. is a fourth-generation family company run by the Buholzer family that makes cheese on its original site in the Green County hills, and its own site highlights brick and feta. The museum says the Buholzers have made cheese there since 1925 and that the name came from a worker's remark about digging for gold while crews dug limestone after a fire. Klondike's site does not describe a visitor store, so ring ahead before driving out.

A 2013 Associated Press story found Limburger in Monroe on a sandwich at Baumgartner's and in 8-ounce blocks at Alp & Dell, so a block can ride home with you.

A cheese morning, in order

Start at the Swiss Colony outlet when it opens at 9 a.m. on a weekday, drive about 0.5 miles to Alp & Dell for samples and a look at the viewing hall, and finish with a Limburger sandwich at Baumgartner's. Between May and October, add the museum on a Thursday through Sunday and the afternoon is gone in the best way. Both Alp & Dell and the Swiss Colony outlet show card payments accepted, and both list wheelchair accessible entrances and parking.

Cheese fans who also like a pint can pair the morning with the Minhas brewery. The brewery's address is 1208 14th Avenue, about 0.15 miles from the square.

Whichever shop you start with, tasting comes first, and by the time you reach the Limburger sandwich you will understand why Monroe keeps the cheese-capital nickname.