KINDRED HICKORY SMOKED CHEDDAR IS A FLAVORFUL, NATURALLY SMOKED CHEESE. IT RANGES IN COLOR FROM YELLOW TO GOLDEN. NATURAL SMOKE IMPARTS A NUTTY, SMOKY TASTE TO THIS FULL-FLAVORED, FIRM-BODIED CHEESE.
KINDRED CREAMERY’S PARENT, THE MEISTER CHEESE COMPANY, WAS FOUNDED IN 1916 BY JOSEPH MEISTER, THE GRANDSON OF A GERMAN IMMIGRANT. JOSEPH BEGAN AS A CHEESE APPRENTICE IN PLAIN, WISCONSIN, LEARNING VALUABLE CHEESE-MAKING SKILLS HE PASSED DOWN TO HIS CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN. EVENTUALLY, JOESEPH GREW THE BUSINESS OVER TIME AND ACQUIRED THE PLEASANT VIEW CHEESE FACTORY. HE AND HIS WIFE RAISED THEIR FAMILY OF 11 IN THE APARTMENT ABOVE THE CHEESE-MAKING FACILITIES– SOMETHING JOSEPH’S SON, STANLEY, AND HIS WIFE PHYLLIS– WOULD DO WITH THEIR FOUR CHILDREN YEARS LATER IN THE MID-1950S. STANLEY GREW THE COMPANY EVEN FURTHER, EVENTUALLY BUYING THE NEARBY MUSCODA CREAMERY. STANLEY RENAMED THE COMPANY THE MEISTER CHEESE COMPANY, PAYING TRIBUTE TO THE HARD WORK AND TIME HIS FATHER HAD PUT INTO CRAFTING HIS CHEESES. TODAY, THE COMPANY IS LED BY YET ANOTHER GENERATION OF MEISTERS, SIBLINGS SCOTT AND VICKI MEISTER, WHO CARRY ON THE FAMILY TRADITION OF CHEESE MAKING JUST LIKE THE MEISTERS WHO CAME BEFORE THEM. IN 2015, SCOTT AND VICKI SAW AN OPPORTUNITY TO PAY TRIBUTE TO THE TRADITIONS OF FARMING AND CHEESE-MAKING THAT THEY’VE KNOWN THEIR WHOLE LIVES, AND THUS THE KINDRED CREAMERY BRAND WAS BORN.