Most cheesemakers would call twenty years a career. For Tony and Julie Hook, it’s the age of their oldest cheddar. From a small factory tucked into the hills of Mineral Point, Wisconsin, the couple has spent half a century proving that patience is an ingredient, and in July 2026 the American Cheese Society handed them five more ribbons to show for it. Here’s the story behind the wheels, and why their cheese tastes the way it does.
A Cheesemaker Since the Days of Milk Cans
Tony Hook started out in 1970, right after high school, as an apprentice at a cheese plant in Barneveld, Wisconsin. Back then, farmers still delivered their milk in cans. He learned the trade the slow way, by standing at the vat and doing the work. Tony and Julie went on to make cheese together at a small cooperative called Buck Grove, and Hook’s Cheese dates its founding to 1976.
In 1987, they bought a factory of their own in Mineral Point, a hillside town in Wisconsin’s old lead-mining country. The building has housed a cheese factory since 1929, and according to Dairy Foods’ 2024 plant profile, it’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It remains the place where nearly everything happens. The Hooks buy their milk from the same small group of nearby family farms they have worked with for decades. As Tony once put it to Cheese Underground: “The farmers know what kind of milk we want, and we pay them a good price for it.”
For years, the Hooks made cheese that other companies sold under their own labels. In 2001, they shifted to selling under the Hook’s name. Today the company is still small. Dairy Foods counted seven full-time employees and about 450,000 pounds of cheese a year in 2024, sold in roughly 40 states and at hundreds of restaurants.
The Day Julie Hook Beat the World
Long before the aged cheddar made headlines, Julie made history. In 1982, her Colby won Best of Class at the World Championship Cheese Contest, and then the overall title of World Champion. Her cheese beat 482 entries from 14 states and 16 countries. In 2024, Dairy Foods still described her as the only woman ever to take the contest’s top prize.
That win matters to this year’s story too. Among the five ribbons Hook’s brought home from the 2026 American Cheese Society competition was a third place for Hook’s Colby, the same style that made Julie a world champion more than four decades ago.
Why Nobody Else Was Making 20-Year Cheddar
Aged cheddar became the Hooks’ calling almost by accident. Once their children were through college, the couple started holding back some cheese to see what time would do to it. “Nobody in the U.S. was doing anything beyond two years,” Tony told Isthmus. So they kept going: five years, then seven, then ten. By 2009, their 15-year cheddar was the oldest commercially available cheddar on the market.
Then came the big one. In 2015, the Hooks released about 450 pounds of their first 20-year cheddar. It sold out in five days. They gave half the profits, about $40,000, to help renovate Babcock Hall, the dairy plant at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. A second release followed in 2020, sold by preorder only at $209 a pound, and a 20-year white cheddar followed in 2023.
How does a cheese survive two decades? The Hooks’ method differs from the classic British approach, in which cheddar is wrapped in cloth and allowed to breathe and dry out. Hook’s cheddars are sealed in plastic and never exposed to air, so they retain their moisture. They rest in cool curing rooms kept around 38°F. If you want to understand what is happening inside the wheel during all those years, our guide to the cheese aging process walks through it step by step.
The result surprises people who expect old cheddar to be fiercely sharp. Ken Monteleone, owner of the Madison cheese shop Fromagination, told Isthmus that “as it ages it becomes smooth and buttery.” Expect a creamy texture dotted with small, crunchy crystals, which form naturally as the cheese ages. They are a good sign, not a flaw.
The Blues, and Cheese Made From Three Milks
Cheddar pays the bills at Hook’s, accounting for about half of sales according to Dairy Foods. But the Hooks have quietly built one of the more interesting blue cheese lines in the Midwest. They started making blues in the 1990s, and Tony later earned Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker certification in both cheddar and blue. The lineup now includes six blues across every major milk: Original Blue, Blue Paradise, and Gorgonzola from cow’s milk; Little Boy Blue from sheep’s milk; Barneveld Blue from goat’s milk; and Ewe Calf to be Kidding, made from all three.
That last cheese, launched in 2013, opened another door. The Hooks were among the early American makers of mixed-milk cheese, where cow, sheep, and goat milk go into the same vat. Triple Play, an Alpine-style wheel made from all three, is the star of this year’s results. It’s a drier cheese with tangy, buttery, and sweet notes, and a longer-aged version sells as Triple Play Extra Innings.
If blue cheese still feels intimidating, start with our guide to the world of blue cheese, then work up to Little Boy Blue. It’s a sheep’s milk blue that won Best of Class at the 2024 World Championship Cheese Contest in Milwaukee.
Five Ribbons in Louisville
The 2026 American Cheese Society Judging & Competition drew close to 1,600 entries from across the Americas, all judged blind. Hook’s placed five cheeses in five different categories, according to the American Cheese Society’s official 2026 winner list.
Triple Play took first place in the Original Recipe / Open Category for mixed or other milks, the class for cheeses that don’t fit a traditional style. Little Boy Blue placed second among rindless blues made from goat, sheep, or mixed milk. Hook’s Sheep Milk Cheddar took second in its cheddar class for non-cow milks. Blue Paradise placed third among rindless cow’s milk blues, and the Colby took third in its own class.
What stands out is the spread. One ribbon can be luck. Five ribbons across cheddar, Colby, two kinds of blue, and a mixed-milk original point to a whole operation that knows what it’s doing. It’s the same pattern we saw this year with another Wisconsin creamery, Marieke Gouda, where judges rewarded nearly the whole lineup, not just one hero cheese.
How to Taste Your Way Through Hook’s
If you’re new to Hook’s, think of the lineup as a tasting flight across time and milk. Start with the Colby: mild, soft, and milky, an easy sandwich cheese with a world-champion pedigree. Then move to the five-year sharp cheddar, which makes up about a fifth of Hook’s sales according to Dairy Foods, for a firmer bite and a nutty, caramel edge. If you can find a ten- or fifteen-year cheddar, taste it next to the five-year. The difference in texture alone is a lesson in what time does to cheese.
From there, cross over to the blues. Blue Paradise is a creamy, approachable cow’s milk blue, while Little Boy Blue brings the richer, rounder flavor of sheep’s milk. Finish with Triple Play and try to pick out each milk as you taste it.
For pairings, aged cheddar and blue both pair well with a dark beer. A stout or porter stands up to the cheddar’s caramel notes and calms the blue’s salty bite. Our guide on how to pair cheese and beer has more ideas. Crisp apples, pears, and a drizzle of honey pair beautifully with both.
Hook’s cheese is sold in shops and restaurants in about 40 states. Closer to home, you can buy it at the factory in Mineral Point or at the Dane County Farmers’ Market in Madison, and Hook’s also takes orders by email. The 20-year cheddar releases have historically sold by preorder. Visit Hook’s Cheese for current availability.
A Story Still Being Written
The Hooks’ story is a lesson in what patience can build. A cheesemaker who started when milk still came in cans, a world title for a humble Colby, a decision to keep aging cheddar long after everyone else stopped, and a willingness to try new things like mixing three milks in one vat. Fifty years in, they are still winning ribbons, and some of their cheese is older than many of the people tasting it.
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