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.