Oregon Cheeses Score Record 24 Awards at American Cheese Society Conference
The nation’s specialty food industry descended on Portland last week at the American Cheese Society’s 2022 annual conference, its first in-person event since 2019. Oregon food and beverage makers were featured in pre-conference tours, educational and tasting seminars, and at a Best of Oregon celebration hosted by the Oregon Cheese Guild during this four day conference for over 1,000 industry professionals.
At the Annual Cheese Competition, Oregon artisan, farmstead, and specialty cheesemakers took home blue ribbons in 10 categories and Oregon cheeses landed a clean sweep in the 2-4 Year Aged Cheddar category. The awards were announced July 21 at the ACS’s 39th Annual Conference. Tillamook received seven awards, Face Rock Creamery nabbed five, and Briar Rose Creamery scored four coveted medals, including three golds. There were 1,387 entries representing 196 creameries from North and South America in this year’s competition, the nation’s largest. The full list of Oregon’s awards is on page two.
Oregon cheeses and local specialty food and beverage were on display all week to buyers from around the world, showcased in seminars such as “An Agricultural Tour from the Oregon Trail to Modern Day,” “A Distinctive Fermentation Community: Oregon’s National Leadership,” “Portlanders’ Cultural Diversity in Food” and “What Grows Together Goes Together: Oregon’s Dynamic Geological History and Terroir;” during the Cheese Crawl at local establishments and in events and receptions such as those hosted by marquee sponsor Tillamook and the Oregon Cheese Guild.
The public will be able to taste this year’s winners from Oregon and beyond at Portland’s celebration of cheese and all things that go with it, The Wedge, Sept. 24 at Alder Block. Other opportunities to taste competition winners and other delicious Oregon cheeses are at our retail partners statewide during Oregon Cheese Month in September, at the Oregon Cheese Festival in Central Point and at creameries around the state on the Oregon Cheese & Food Trail.
Read more in the Gourmet News‘s Fall Cheese Guide. To advertise, email sales@oser.com.
Cheese Society Gives Awards, Revives Meet the Cheesemaker at Annual Convention
Rogue Creamery’s famous blue cheeses
Seventeen years ago, David Gremmels, owner of Rogue Creamery, proposed that the American Cheese Society create a Lifetime Achievement Award.
The ACS Lifetime Achievement Award was created in 2006 by the American Cheese Society board of directors to honor those whose professional accomplishments have made a significant and lasting impact in the American cheese industry, and whose life and character have earned the respect and admiration of their professional colleagues.
Today, Gremmels (aka “Mr. Blue” for Rogue’s famous blue cheese) and Paula Lambert of Mozzarella Co., received Lifetime Achievement Awards at the ACS conference in Portland, Ore. Both had positive messages to send to peers and newcomers.
“Please join me in trying to make a positive impact in all that we do,” Gremmels said, “and make it safe, healthy, positive and other centered.”
Lambert joined the ceremony via video, as she was isolating in Dallas after contracting COVID. Lambert was hailed as a pioneer in artisanal cheesemaking and mentor to numerous cheesemakers.
“I’m thrilled beyond words,” Lambert said. “Keep a positive attitude and don’t give up.”
Michele Haram of Cypress Grove was given the Above & Beyond Award for her dedication to volunteerism.
Meritorious Service Awards were given posthumously to Anne Saxelby of Saxelby Cheesemongers and Patrick Polowsky, who created the Cheese Science Toolkit.
There was cheese to eat and hugs to give at the ACS Meet the Cheesemaker event.
The most popular event at the annual American Cheese Society convention, Meet the Cheesemaker, returned, with hundreds of attendees flocking to a conference room in the Oregon Convention Center to taste all the cheeses and accompaniments offered by members.
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Whitney From Cellars at Jasper Hill Wins Best in Show at Specialty Cheese Show
Whitney, a Raclette-style raw milk cheese from Vermont’s Cellars at Jasper Hill won Best in Show for specialty cheese at the American Cheese Society’s annual awards.
“Behind every great cheese is a community of people,” an overwhelmed Jasper Hill co-founder, Matteo Kehler, said in a ceremony held during the ACS convention in Portland, Ore. “What we’re trying to build is an agriculture-supported community. Not a CSA, but an ASC.
“At the root of this effort is delicious cheese. It’s the vehicle. It’s reflective of this point in the industry for us and it’s an epic opportunity to push the boundaries and win new consumers,” said Kehler, who founded the creamery with his brother, Andy.
“When you win new consumers for specialty cheese, we all win and we win together,” he said.
Whitney is a Jasper Hill Creamery original, according to the company’s website, inspired by the classic, mid-elevation mountain cheeses of Europe. At Jasper Hill, people are the main ingredient; this stoic, reliable cheese pays homage to Jasper Hill’s longest-standing employee: the steadfast Tim Whitney.
Bamboozle, a washed-rind goat and cow’s milk cheese from Goat Rodeo Farm & Dairy in Pennsylvania, and Flagsheep, a cloth-bound and open-air aged sheep’s milk cheese from Beecher’s Handmade Cheese in Washington, tied for second place.
Greensward, a cow’s milk washed-rind cheese from Murray’s Cheese of New York, took third place.
For more specialty cheese awards from the ACS convention and other coverage, get the September issue of Gourmet News. So you don’t miss anything, subscribe now!