Fifth-generation Ohio creamery continues small-batch production at 85 percent butterfat, with a sixth generation now in the plant
We make our butter the old-fashioned way, in batch churns, and it takes about an hour and a half per batch. There is no shortcut to that, and it is the reason people can taste the difference.”— Adam Mueller, Fifth-Generation CEO, Minerva DairyOHIO, OH, UNITED STATES, August 11, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Minerva Dairy, the oldest family-run creamery in the United States, is celebrating 132 years of uninterrupted butter production in 2026. The operation still relies on the slow batch-churning method introduced by the family in 1894 and continues to produce butter at 85 percent butterfat, five percentage points higher than the level typical of nearly all mass-produced butters found on American supermarket shelves.
The business traces its roots back to 1894, when 21-year-old Max Radloff launched a dairy operation at Hustisford Creamery in Wisconsin. Over the years, the family consolidated its operations and relocated to Minerva, Ohio, where the creamery still operates today on Radloff Avenue. Five generations later, siblings Adam Mueller and Venae Watts own and run the company, and a sixth generation—comprising 13 children—is already gaining hands-on experience. Among them, Orrin Mueller works as a butter maker at the facility.
The majority of commercial butter sold across the United States contains 80 percent butterfat, the minimum required by law. Minerva Dairy butter, however, contains 85 percent. This elevated fat content results in less water, which is why bakers and chefs choose it when aiming for flakier pastries, improved browning, and a more luxurious finish. Each batch undergoes slow churning in small quantities rather than being processed through a continuous industrial system.
“We make our butter the old-fashioned way, in batch churns, and it takes about an hour and a half per batch,” said Adam Mueller, fifth-generation chief executive officer of Minerva Dairy. “There is no shortcut to that. It is the same way we have made butter for more than 100 years, and it is the reason people can taste the difference the moment it hits the pan.”
The butter is composed of just two ingredients: cream and sea salt for the salted varieties, and cream alone for the unsalted. Milk is sourced from pasture-raised cows on nearby family farms, with roughly 12,000 head supplying the creamery. Minerva Dairy pasteurizes between 450,000 and 600,000 pounds of milk each day, equivalent to 52,000 to 70,000 gallons. Because the cows graze on pasture, the butter’s color shifts naturally with the seasons, deepening to a golden yellow during the warmer months.
“Doing things the same way is how you stop growing,” said Venae Watts, co-owner and vice president of sales. “We have kept the traditional process our great-great-grandfather started, but we have never stopped looking for better ways to get our butter into more kitchens. Our whole family lives the butter life, and we want more people to be able to taste what that actually means.”
The Minerva Dairy retail product lineup includes 8-ounce Sea Salt Butter, 8-ounce Unsalted Butter, and 8-ounce Garlic Herb Butter, as well as 2-pound Sea Salt and Unsalted roll butters designed for serious home bakers and food service kitchens. The garlic herb variety has become a go-to for home cooks who want to finish steaks, vegetables, and seafood without preparing a compound butter from scratch.
Minerva Dairy products are available at select grocery retailers across the country and can be shipped directly via Instacart and Goldbelly. Customers can find the nearest store using the store locator at minervadairy.com. The company also manufactures ingredient and private-label cheese on a business-to-business basis for food manufacturers and food service companies.
The family attributes its enduring success to a straightforward principle handed down through the generations: each generation is given the freedom to make its own choices—and its own errors. This approach has guided the creamery through the rise of margarine, decades of consolidation across the American dairy industry, and the consumer shift back toward simple, minimally processed foods.
Recipes, technique guides, and seasonal baking content are published regularly on the Minerva Dairy blog, covering topics from lattice-crust apple pie to compound butter techniques for grilling season.
About Minerva Dairy
Minerva Dairy is America’s oldest family-owned creamery, producing slow-churned, small-batch butter in Minerva, Ohio since 1894. Now in its fifth generation of family ownership under siblings Adam Mueller and Venae Watts, the company makes 85 percent butterfat butter from the milk of pasture-raised cows on local family farms, and produces ingredient and private-label cheese for food manufacturers and food service companies. Learn more at minervadairy.com.
Venae Watts
Minerva Dairy
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