Dan Posselt
Jon Hanchett
Bret Stamper
about
Kickaas Cheese
Kickaas Cheese was a company started by three childhood friends from Shawano, WI. From battle ball in grade school to battle of the bands in high school, roommates to backpacking abroad, we eventually found ourselves selling cheese together in Chicago.
Jon(ny) Hanchett eventually bought the company we had been working for and The Cheese People was born. Soon after Bret Stamper would launch Stamper Cheese and I, Dan Posselt, having drawn the shortest cheese straw and happily so, began my journey of learning the amazing craft of cheese making.
about
Aging
The picture of the three of us above was taken in the Malthouse of a 160 year old brewery in Quincy, IL where Jon lives.
These underground cellars have vaulted ceilings, and are the perfect environment for Jon to practice the art of affinage (cheese ripening). We hope to be aging cheese in these "Caves of Quincy" in 2018.
Up in Green Bay, we’ve prepared a different set of small caves at the Art Garage solely to ripen our delicate
Camembert and Brie style cheese to perfection. We want the wheels to have achieved that perfect creamline by the time they hit our market tables.
about
The Vat
The mist covered rolling hills outside the creamery at dawn are always breath taking. We make at Oak Grove Dairy run by the Kust family, just south of Shawano where we grew up.
Once the Kusts are done making cheese for the day, we begin filling our vat with milk from the small neighboring farms. We make Jacks w/ various fresh herbs, cheddars w/sauces we make in house, piles of hand milled cheddar curds & new this year, our own version of Camembert.