Wisconsin...

is known for its cheese. Having visited 5 cheese factories, we've come to the conclusion that most of it is not to our taste and was quite bland. It's just as well we didn't have high expectations. We don't really care for all the flavoured varieties and prefer the cheese to 'speak for itself' as it were. We did find some pleasant aged Swiss (at Kraemer) and also bought a block of 3 year aged cheddar (at Beechwood) that was quite palatable. At the Cheddar Valley factory, they specialise in Italian style cheese, so we've taken a punt on some Mozzarella and Parmesan as it wasn't on the tasting platter.

Milwaukee is home of  MillerCoors, a joint venture between SABMiller and Molson Coors Brewing Company, the second largest (to Budweiser) beer company in America.

We went down to Miller Valley (which is huge), did the factory tour and free tastings after the tour. As expected, the beer was inoffensive with a little flavour. We then headed down to Lakefront Brewery, Milwaukee's first brewery to grow from micro brewery to Regional Craft Brewery status. and founded in 1987. It was one of the best tours we've been on as the guide was very informative. We also got to take our tasters on the tour and refill half way through. The beer was very good too :-)

Today we visited the Harley-Davidson museum. Founded in 1903 by childhood friends Bill Harley and Arthur Davidson, they couldn't have foreseen how their venture would grow.  It was great to read about the history and look at all the great bikes. It was just as well that these bikes were bolted to the floor as I struggled to reach the ground.

Tomorrow we head for Chicago...