Midwest Book Review selected Beer, Brats, and Cheese as its March 2025 Reviewer’s Choice:

Featuring a number of maps and the occasional B/W illustration, Heather Kerrigan’s “Beer, Brats, and Cheese: A Wisconsin Road Trip” from the University of Wisconsin Press is a treasured combination of Wisconsin culinary history and food themed travel guide showcasing what Wisconsin on has to offer beyond beer, brats, and cheese — as well as the best of those iconic foods. Informative, exceptional, and an inherently fascinating read from start to finish, “Beer, Brats, and Cheese: A Wisconsin Road Trip” is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal reading lists and community/academic library Travel Guide & Wisconsin History collections.

“Reads like a love letter to Wisconsin’s craft cheese and beer, as if this is your best friend telling you exactly where to go—and why. With Kerrigan’s ‘go here, not there’ attitude, I felt like we were on a road trip together.”

—Kristine Hansen, author of Wisconsin Cheese Cookbook: Creamy, Cheesy, Sweet, and Savory Recipes from the State’s Best Creameries

“If you want to take a road trip for beer, brats, and cheese, then this is your Bible, and Heather Kerrigan is your beer, cheese, and brat prophetess. Reading this book will make you both hungry and thirsty, and you’ll likely want to jump in your car and take a road trip, with Kerrigan riding shotgun.”

—Jeanette Hurt, author of Wisconsin Cocktails

Wisconsin foodways contain much more than beer, brats, and cheese. Yet these remain at the pinnacle of the state’s fame—and rightly so. To find the best Wisconsin has to offer, I undertook a 2,600-mile road trip crisscrossing the Badger State. Now, I’m sharing the best restaurants, creameries, breweries, butcher shops, and cheesemongers in Beer, Brats, and Cheese: A Wisconsin Road Trip. Join me as we travel from Up North to the Illinois border, from Door County to the Mississippi River, and everywhere in between.

Order now from UW Press or your favorite indie bookseller!

Want a sneak peek into Wisconsin’s best places to enjoy beer, brats, and cheese? Follow along on Instagram @somelikeitbrat as I set out on a four-week, 2,600-mile journey through America’s Dairyland.