Get ready to eat, drink, and yodel your way around southern Wisconsin’s Green County with the new Cheese Passport to Green County Swiss-consin! The passport is accessed by mobile phone and there’s no app to download. You can be rewarded with fun prizes, cheesy swag, and eligibility for prize drawings simply for visiting participating passport locations.

Let the Cheese Passport to Green County Swiss-consin take you on a global culinary road trip featuring cheese with origins from all around the world, but crafted in Green County. There’s Havarti — native to Denmark, crafted at Decatur Dairy in Brodhead. Gruyere — born in France and perfected at Emmi Roth in Monroe. Limburger — with roots in Belgium, produced at Chalet Cheese in Monroe. Those are just a few examples, but you’ll soon realize that it’s a melting pot in Green County, just like the fondue you can enjoy at Chalet Landhaus in New Glarus or Turner Hall in Monroe.  

Here’s how to get the gamified passport: Go to the Green County Tourism website www.eatdrinkyodel.com and click Cheese Passport. Click “Sign Up”. Enter your contact info and complete the free order. You’ll immediately get a text message with a link to the mobile passport. There’s nothing to download. Your next step is to scroll through the list of nearly 40 participating locations. Then plan your delicious itinerary, and start accumulating points for prizes.

Each participating location has a unique 4-digit PIN code, which passport holders use to “check in” at that location and earn points. Included are cheese shops, cheese factory outlets, pubs with good eats like local deep-fried cheese curds, and restaurants with cheese-centric menu options — like the Mac & Cheese at Buggyworks in Monroe, featuring a trio of local favorites — Deppeler Baby Swiss, Roth Kase Grand Cru, and Maple Leaf Cheddar.

When it comes to pairing local cheese with local beverages, the options in Green County are plentiful.   Get pairing ideas and earn points with stops at wineries, breweries and distilleries. You can also earn points by digging into local cheese history at stops like the cheesemaking exhibit at Brodhead Historical Society’s Depot Museum.  

There’s so much cheesy goodness going on! The passport tracks your accumulated points and prize eligibility. Prizes include cheese, swag (cheese glitter pins, cheese socks, stickers), and the coveted “Karma is the Cheese” t-shirts. Passport holders also have the option to save up their points to enter prize drawings for “create your own cheese board kits” featuring custom wedge-shaped cutting boards with cheese tools, a $100 selection of local cheese, and beer, wine, and spirits made in Green County. The grand prize package includes lodging and fondue for two at Chalet Landhaus in New Glarus, cheese board kit, gift certificates and fun cheesy prizes.  

Whether you like your cheese sliced or cubed, melted or deep-fried, the Cheese Passport to Green County Swiss-consin is a perfect way to taste, discover, and win prizes. Do you have what it takes to make all the stops?

The Cheese Passport to Green County Swiss-consin is a promotion through Green County Tourism, supported by a grant from Travel Wisconsin.

­— Noreen Rueckert is director for Green County Tourism and for Green County Cheese Days.  She can be reached at tourism@greencounty.org.