Artisanal Cheese
Winner: Clock Shadow Creamery (also won Best Cheese Curds) 138 W. Bruce St. 414-273-9711 clockshadowcreamery.com
As one of the few urban creameries throughout the nation, Clock Shadow Creamery has, during its five-year existence, emerged as an award-winning cheese maker. Started by Cedar Grove Cheese owner Bob Wills, Clock Shadow Creamery’s signature products include cheddar cheese curds, plain and flavored quark, chèvre and more. Clock Shadow Creamery is named for the Allen-Bradley Clock Tower, located just a few blocks from their retail store and production space. (Sheila Julson)
Runners-Up: Sartori Cheese Weyauwega Star Dairy Inc Widmer’s Cheese Cellars
Bacon
Winner: Nueske’s Applewood Smoked Meat nueskes.com
There’s a reason so many restaurants that serve Nueske’s make a point of mentioning the brand name on their menu. It’s not just bacon. It’s Nueske’s bacon. The company offers some of the smokiest, most flavorful bacon on the market, and the mere name provokes a Pavlovian response from its fans. Sure, you could order your Kopp’s burger without it, but c’mon, it’s Nueske’s! (Evan Rytlewski)
Runners-Up: Bunzel’s Meat Market Kettle Range Meat Company Patrick Cudahy, LLC
Bratwurst
Winner: Usinger’s Famous Sausage (also won Best Sausage) 1030 N. Old World Third St. 414-276-9105 usinger.com
Think Milwaukee, think sausage, especially bratwurst. Think those delectable cylindrical meats, think none other than Usinger’s. But the Usinger’s products we see in the grocery store is just the tip of the meat iceberg. Usinger wurstmachers—still practicing their culinary art at the site of the original store—continue to adhere to original family recipes dating to 1880. The deli boasts sliced meats, hams, bacon and snack sticks; the gift store offers applewood-smoked pit ham, Angus beef, cheese, crackers and more. Usinger’s is tough to beat when it comes to the wurst of Milwaukee! (John Jahn)
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Runners-Up—Bratwurst: Bunzel’s Meat Market Klements Sausage Co., Inc. Johnsonville
Cheese Curds
Winner: Clock Shadow Creamery (also won Best Artisanal Cheese, read about Clock Shadow here) Runners-Up: Decatur Dairy West Allis Cheese & Sausage Shoppe Widmer’s Cheese Cellars
Craft Beer
Winner: Lakefront Brewery 1872 N. Commerce St. 414-372-8800 lakefrontbrewery.com
Craft beer has trended in some pretty silly directions over the last decade, so it’s refreshing to see a brewery thrive without resorting to goofy flavor combinations and other gimmicks. Lakefront’s flagship offerings—including Riverwest Stein, Fixed Gear and East Side Dark—are all pillars of their form, beers that stand out for their quality, not their novelty. And after all these years, Lakefront’s brewery tour remains the gold standard in a city that now offers tons of them. (Evan Rytlewski)
Runners-Up: Black Husky Brewing The Explorium Brewpub Third Space Brewing
Cupcakes
Classy Girl Cupcakes Multiple locations classygirlcupcakes.com
Owner Erica Elia wanted cupcakes for her wedding and decided to bake them herself. The idea grew into a retail bakery Downtown and expanded to Brookfield Square. Wedding cupcakes are still having their moment, but of course, the scrumptious little frosted things are good for any occasion or no occasion at all. (Morton Shlabotnik)
Runners-Up: Blooming Lotus Bakery Jen’s Sweet Treats The Village Cakery
Distilled Spirits
Winner: Great Lakes Distillery 616 W. Virginia St. 414-431-8683 greatlakesdistillery.com
When the craft distillery began producing its award-winning Rehorst Premium Milwaukee Vodka in 2006, it was the first Wisconsin distillery to open its doors since Prohibition. Visitors to its site can tour the facility and learn how Great Lakes produces citrus and honey-flavored vodka, gin, absinthe, pumpkin seasonal spirit, and grappa. Great Lakes products can be enjoyed in a comfortable tasting room. (Morton Shlabotnik)
Runners-Up: Central Standard Craft Distillery SoulBoxer Cocktail Co. Twisted Path Distillery
Frozen Pizza
Winner: Palermo’s palermospizza.com
Founded in Milwaukee more than five decades ago as a pizzeria, Palermo’s joined the ever-growing frozen food industry some 40 years ago by selling a line of pizzas in area grocery stores. Now, that line encompasses numerous versions of frozen pizza, and Palermo’s pizza can be found in stores across the country. All crust styles and virtually all topping options can be had. The Menomonee Valley production plant offers tours that include pizza samples and beverages. (John Jahn)
Runners-Up: Brew Pub Pizza (Lotzza Motzza) Cedar Teeth Jack’s Frozen Pizza
Hard Cider
Winner: Lost Valley Cider Co. 408 W. Florida St. lostvalley.com
Xavier A. Waler
Lost Valley is a combination tasting room and bottle shop, where you can choose from about 80 cans and bottles that can be enjoyed on site or to go. The company brews its own cider with a cidermaker in Madison following their recipes for both whiskey barrel and rum barrel aged ciders, as well as their best-selling cider, called Currant Affair, made with Midwest apples, a touch of hops and Wisconsin black currants. The menu also includes cider-based cocktails, and if your companions aren’t that into cider, they have a good selection of craft beer, wine, mead, kombucha and a full-service liquor bar. (Tea Krulos)
Runners-Up: CiderBoys Cider Restoration Cider Sprecher Brewery
Sausage
Winner: Usinger’s Famous Sausage (also won Best Bratwurst, read more about Usinger's here) Runners-Up: Bunzel’s Meat Market Glorioso’s Italian Market Milwaukee Sausage Company Scardina Specialties
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Soda
Winner: Sprecher Brewing Company 701 W. Glendale Ave. 414-964-7837 sprecherbrewery.com
Soda really doesn’t get any better than Sprecher root beer. Unlike its syrupy, mass-produced counterparts, Sprecher’s take on the old staple is rich and nuanced, its sweetness taking a backseat to flavors of real vanilla and real honey. That same quality standard carries through the brewery’s ever-expanding line of sodas, which has grown to include not only cream soda, orange dream and ginger ale, but also unusual colas and seasonal offerings like raspberry and blueberry sodas. (Evan Rytlewski)
Runners-Up: Lakefront Brewery Top Note Tonic Wisco Pop
Tea
Rishi Tea rishi-tea.com
Rishi Tea has come a long way in the 20-plus years since it launched in a tiny Third Ward warehouse. The teas can now be found in major grocery store chains like Whole Foods as well as in cafés across Milwaukee. With reports coming out this summer that Rishi Tea was looking to purchase $1.67 million in new equipment, it looks like even more growth may be in the company’s future. (Rob Hullum)
Runners-Up: Fava Tea Company Tippecanoe Herbs and Apothecary
