2026 American Cured Meat Championships in Milwaukee
Over the past 77 years cured meat artisans and purveyors have gathered together once a year to crown their kings or queens of ham, bacon, mortadella, baloney, and every kind of sausage under the sun.
In the early days, beginning in 1949, it was just a few dozen men having fun, eating meat, drinking beer and enjoying the camaraderie that comes with being butchers, farmers or rural charcuterie experts.
Bragging rights were at stake.
That first year sixty-five hams were judged in four classes. Now the event is a colossus with hundreds of meat products being judged across dozens of classes.
If you like cured meat it’s a sort of Roman orgy for charcuterie lovers.
Here are all the Grand Champions:
Andouille Sausage: Tulare Meat Locker & Sausage Co., Tulare, CA
Bacon – Heavyweight: Bardine’s Country Smokehouse, Crabtree, PA
Bacon – Lightweight: Klein Smokehaus, Boerne, TX
Braunschweiger: McDonald’s Meats Inc., Clear Lake, MN
Country Bacon – Dry Cured: Tulare Meat Locker & Sausage Co., Tulare, CA
Cured Specialty Meat Products: Woods Smoked Meats – Country Ham, Bowling Green, MO
Dried Beef: Arrow Farm Meats, Rock City, IL
Frankfurters/Wieners – Coarse Ground: Wilson Farm Meats, Elkhorn, WI
Frankfurters/Wieners – Emulsified: Edgewood Locker, Edgewood, IA
Ham, Bone-In – Heavyweight: The Country Butcher, Tolland, CT
Ham, Bone-In – Lightweight: Wilson Farm Meats, Elkhorn, WI
Ham, Boneless – Commercial: Alex Froehlich Packing Co., Johnstown, PA
Ham, Boneless – Traditional: Holland Bros. Meats, Duncansville, PA
Ham, Semi-Boneless: Woods Smoked Meats, Bowling Green, MO
Jerky – Restructured: Bellingar Packing – Hawaiian with Kick, Ashley, MI
Jerky – Whole Muscle: Clarks Custom Meat Company – Mongolian Beef Jerky, St. Joseph, MO
Luncheon Meat – Large Diameter: Alex Froehlich Packing Co. – Kolbassi Lunchmeat, Johnstown, PA
Meat Snack Sticks: Valley View Farm – Beef Snack Sticks, Templeton, MA
Meat Snack Sticks – Flavored: Block & Cleaver Artisan Meats – Fennel & Cheddar Cheese, Siren, WI
Old World Dried Fermented Sausage: Driftless Provisions – Loukanika, Viroqua, WI
Ring Bologna – Cooked: Geiss Meat Service – Ring Bologna, Merrill, WI
Semi-Dried Sausage – Cooked, Non-Fermented: Block & Cleaver Artisan Meats – Garlic Summer Sausage, Siren, WI
Small Diameter Hot Link Sausage: Den’s Country Meat – Hot Links, Table Rock, NE
Small Diameter Smoked & Cooked Sausage: Bardine’s Country Smokehouse – Kolbassi, Crabtree, PA
Small Diameter Smoked & Cooked Sausage – Specialty Flavor: Tulare Meat Locker & Sausage Co. – Spicy Mozzarella, Tulare, CA
Smoked Turkey: Bardine’s Country Smokehouse, Crabtree, PA
Specialty Game Meats: Block & Cleaver Artisan Meats – Bison Summer Sausage, Siren, WI
Summer Sausage – Cooked: Woods Smoked Meats – Beef Summer Sausage, Bowling Green, MO
Smoked Salmon: Woods Smoked Meats – Hot Smoked Salmon, Bowling Green, MO
Fresh Traditional Bratwurst: Merindorf Meats Inc., Mason, MI