Photo Via Hill Valley Dairy - Facebook
Hill Valley Dairy Spread
Hill Valley Dairy Cheese Spread
Clock Shadow Creamery, best known for their signature Squeaks cheese curds, has closed its storefront at 138 W. Bruce St. But fear not—Squeaks, along with other Clock Shadow Creamery products, will still be available, and the Walker’s Point creamery and retail space remains active with a new tenant, Hill Valley Dairy.
Bob Wills, owner of Cedar Grove Cheese, in Plain, Wis., opened Clock Shadow Creamery in 2012; one of the few urban cheese factories in the nation. Wills partnered with developer Juli Kaufmann as the anchor business for her Walker’s Point eco-conscious building.
Clock Shadow Creamery will continue to produce cheese and serve their wholesale customers throughout the Milwaukee area.
Ron Henningfeld, who owns Hill Valley Dairy with his wife, Josie, now operates the cheese production in the Walker’s Point space. In 2024, they will re-open the front end with space for cheese retail and cheese experiences. They will operate under their current name of Hill Valley Dairy.
The new venture is, in a way, full circle for Henningfeld; as an aspiring cheesemaker, he had apprenticed under Wills and had also served as manager and cheese maker at Clock Shadow Creamery before launching Hill Valley Dairy.
“Having that relationship has made this transition to be more like passing the baton, rather than one business replacing the other,” Henningfeld says. “We spoke for months about what each of us are looking to do currently and in the coming years with our businesses. The transition makes sense for both parties.”
Since forming Hill Valley Dairy in 2016, Henningfeld says that as a micro-creamery, they’ve had positive growth. Their cheese is primarily available throughout Walworth County, the Creamery in Milwaukee and at Fromagination, in Madison. They also opened a brick-and-mortar location, Hill Valley Cheese Shop and Cheese Bar, in Lake Geneva. “It has become the place where customers know that they can find us and find our cheese every week,” Henningfeld notes.
The Henningfelds plan with Hill Valley Dairy is to keep making more great artisan cheeses, made with milk from his family’s dairy farm, Romari Farm, in East Troy, Wis. The dairy farm was founded by Henningfeld’s grandparents.
Hill Valley Dairy’s lineup includes fresh curds, cheddars, goudas, alpine-styles and their original natural rind cheese named Luna and Alina.
For more information, visit hillvalleydairy.com.
Watch future Eat/Drink columns for a more in-depth look at Hill Valley Dairy’s space in Walker’s Point.
