Milwaukee's first cheese factory: Clock Shadow Creamery

Last night, Craig and I went to Clock Shadow Creamery. Can you believe that it is Milwaukee's first ever cheese factory? The aging process doesn't occur at this location, but the actual cheese making process does.

I've sure had my fill of cheese this month, but how fitting since it is dairy month!



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The company's mission, from their website:

"Clock Shadow Creamery is an urban cheese factory committed to being a model local venture. Our goal is to produce the best, freshest cheese. Our mission is simple; our cheese factory will tread softly on the local environment, provide opportunities to learn the craft of cheese making, educate the public on the nutrient value of fresh dairy products, and connect local farmers choices, with the values of our customers."



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We went inside for to wait in line for the cheese samples!



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Here I am with a fresh curd!



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I loved all of the cheeses I tried. Craig had a piece of the habanero and it was hot!



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My favorite was the quark (must be the German in me). In Europe, people eat it for breakfast with fresh berries, etc. Bob Wills, the founder of Clock Shadow, later admitted to our tour group that he is addicted to quark and eats it with many things. He also told us that a lot of local restaurants are using CS quark in their recipes, which is really cool.



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Since Clock Shadow is very new, they didn't have a lot of cheese available except for some fresh cheese curds and their delicious quark. The founders of Clock Shadow are the same people who own Cedar Grove cheese in Plain, WI, so some Cedar Grove cheese was available in their store.

The store also sells scoops of Purple Door Ice Cream, another local company who Clock Shadow shares their first floor space with.



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After tasting some cheese, we got in line for a tour of the other tenants in the building, which include Aurora Walker's Point Community Clinic, CORE/El Centro, The Healing Center Independent Law Offices.

The building is very green and 50% of it was built using recycled and salvaged material.



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Our first stop on the tour was the green roof, which offered amazing views of Milwaukee.



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Clock Shadow creamery is named because it's in the "shadow" of Allen Bradley, a company that has a well-known clock tower. My dad worked there his whole life, so I have fond memories of Christmas parties at the company and associating the clock tower with my dad.

Here's our view of Allen Bradley (also known as Rockwell Corporation).



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The roof had a great garden going with lots of herbs and veggies.



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Here was our view of Milwaukee.



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After our tour of the building tenants, it was time to check out the cheese production area. We couldn't go into the production room itself (I was spoiled from my WI cheese tour at the beginning of this month when I was able to do this kind of thing).

As you can see, there are big windows facing the outside of the building, so people can check out the production from outside as well.



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A staff member of Purple Door Ice Cream and Bob Wills, the founder of Clock Shadow, spoke to our group. My favorite fact that Bob shared with the group was that the only other urban cheese factories in the country are in Seattle and New York (and they are in more touristy areas and meant for that purpose). He said that the cheese factory hopes to produce 1,000 pounds of cheese per day.

Here is a Purple Door worker dishing out ice cream! Yum!



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I have yet to try Purple Door ice cream, but will definitely have to pick some up at Outpost or Whole Foods next time I go.

As we were leaving, we saw Kyle from Wisconsin Foodie filming an episode.



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Clock Shadow just opened, but I see a bright future ahead for them and for the other tenants in the building. They will have tours available in the future. It looks like you have to schedule them, but call or e-mail to find out. I encourage you to check it out for a unique experience at Milwaukee's first ever cheese factory.