Family owned, family churred

Rachel Kroeger

Staff

December 23, 2024

WESTBY – A century-old family farmstead in West Central Wisconsin is home to Nordic Creamery, which has supplied artisan cheese and butter across the country for nearly two decades.

Al Bekkum – who founded and owns Nordic Creamery with his wife Sarah – said the facility currently sits on the land Sarah’s ancestors settled on when they immigrated to the dairy state in 1917.

“Her great, great grandfather came over from Norway and settled there,” he said. “The farm has been in our family for more than 100 years now.”

Eventually coming into ownership of her familial land, Al said he and Sarah decided to make it their own – and thus began Nordic Creamery.

Generational goals

Al said he’s been making cheese and butter for 30 years, while Sarah previously worked in the healthcare field.

“Even though she was in the medical profession, she also worked in dairy plants, and actually worked in a few dairy plants for me and with me,” he said.

Before opening Nordic Creamery, Al said he spent a decade honing his skills through positions he held at other companies across the Midwest.

“I worked for a local co-op up here – Westby Creamery – where I started back in the late ‘80s,” he said. “(Then) I went to Ohio and ran a canned milk plant out there for, I think, four years… then I ran the (Mt. Sterling) goat cheese factory for another four years before we started this.”

Roughly 17 years ago, Al said he and Sarah decided to take his passion for cheese and butter making in-house.

“We decided that we wanted to build something for the next generation to take over and kind of enjoy what we do,” he said.

After that decision was made, Al said he began taking steps to build a factory on part of the farmstead that originally served as Sarah’s Grandfather’s farm – even though funding hadn’t yet been secured.

“I get a little impatient (with) stuff like that,” he said. “Called up some guys, and we started digging (and) pouring a footer.”

Once the factory was erected, Al said Nordic Creamery was born – and of that, so were his award-winning artisan cheeses and butters.

Deliciously hand-made

All of Nordic Creamery’s products, Al said, are made in small batches as opposed to being mass-produced like those sold by their larger competitors.

“We do a lot of stuff by hand here,” he said. “We don’t have large, continuous butter churns or enclosed cheese fats to make our cheese. We have the older-style equipment to do it, but it gives our batches their unique taste to them.”

Al said customers are sometimes surprised by the varying tastes and textures of Nordic Creamery’s products.

“They’re not always a consistent texture like you’d find in the larger dairies,” he said. “So there are consumers out there that love artisan products, but there’s also a lot of consumers out there that expect their product to stay tasting the same with every bite.”

Al said Nordic Creamery’s butter and cheese can also vary in taste and texture depending on the time of year it’s made.

“Our butter in general – even our cheeses – they get a different flavor to them (at) different times of the year,” he said. “When the cows go up pasture in the spring and we start making our summer butter, people go crazy for it because (it has) more of a grassy, earthy taste to it. But then we get to the fall and all the grasses die off, and we’ve got to start feeding them dry product – that does change that flavor.”

Because of those variables, Al said at times, he’s had to help people understand why the tastes and textures of Nordic Creamery’s products can vary at times.

“You have to educate people that if you’re going to do stuff on a small scale, you are going to have different flavors,” he said.

A taste of Wisconsin nationwide

After making cheese and butter for nearly two decades under the Nordic Creamery brand, Al said the small artisan factory has gained popularity and national attention.

“Without (my) 30 years of experience, there’s no way that I would want to do what I’m doing,” he said. “We’ve been blessed that we’ve made some very good products and done work very well in some competitions that kind of give us a leg up.”

Al said last year, Nordic Creamery’s flavored butters swept the competition at the World Championship Cheese Awards – winning first through third place for its pepper, honey and garlic butters, respectively.

“(That) puts a feather in your cap,” he said. “It gets you recognized out there in the grocery stores – people recognize that product, and that helps a lot.”

That recognition, Al said, eventually led to the nationwide distribution of Nordic Creamery’s products.

“Chicago and Minneapolis are big markets for us,” he said. “St. Louis is another one of those big markets for us here in the Midwest. But, we have products in Sysco foods, and our product is coast to coast – not (in) huge volumes, but we do have distribution from one end of the country to the other, and do very well with it.”

With evolving regulations, however, Al said it’s becoming difficult for smaller plants like his to compete with its larger competitors.

“When I started 30 years ago, it was more physical work and doing the actual cheese (and) butter making,” he said. “Now it’s just as much paperwork, if not more paperwork, keeping up with the regulations. It’s harder for the small artisan plants like ours to be able to compete with the big guys.”

17 years down, many more to go

The longevity of Nordic Creamery and the Bekkum’s farmstead as a whole, Al said, is credited to their diversity.

Though dairy is their bread and butter, Al said he and his family also raise organic pullets (young chicken less than one year of age), as well as race and draft horses.

“(Nordic Creamery) is the main part of it, but the rest of it is also very needed in that operation to keep everything flowing in a very nice way for us,” he said.

With a total of six children, Al said he and Sarah are looking forward to when their kids are old enough to become involved with the farmstead and the creamery.

“We have five boys and one girl, and we thought we’d like to find something for them to work in and eventually take it over,” he said. “But, we’re still young enough. We’ve got a few years in us to keep going.”

Nordic Creamery’s products are available for purchase in their store located at 202 W. Old Towne Road in Westby or online at nordiccreamery.com.