Entries associated with the tag "American Cheese Society":

"I don't think there's a cheese out there that at least somebody doesn't like."
 --Marcel Gravel, Cabot Creamery

That was the plant manager from Vermont's largest cheese maker on Friday during a panel discussion on the economics of affinage at the American Cheese Society conference. I knew there had to be some explanation for the existence of inconceivable crimes against nature such as smoked salmon cheddar and strawberry-chardonnay cheddar, both ribbon winners in their respective categories in ACS's annual cheese competition.

At Saturday's Festival of Cheese those and over a thousand other competition entries from cheese makers all over the U.S. and Canada were cut and laid out in the Chicago Hilton's grand ballroom. Fish cheese aside, an impossible number of these were very fine indeed, including two second-place red ribbon winners from our old pal Willi Lehner. It was a challenge to sample thoughtfully among all this cheesy splendor--about the only spot in the room that wasn't mobbed with turophiles was the deserted low-fat, low-salt cheese table.

Some of my favorites: Vermont Butter & Cheese Company's cultured butter with sea salt, Utah's Beehive Cheese Company's espresso-lavender-rubbed cheddar, and Virginia's Meadow Creek Dairy farmstead Grayson, which I had the great good fortune to try earlier in the week melted on a pizza created by the talented Mark Bello. 

The big local angle here is that Wisconsin cheese makers took away a whopping 91 ribbons in the competition, a third of all the prizes. Sid Cook of Carr Valley Cheese Company won 18 of them, including Best in Show for his Snow White Goat Cheddar, and third runner-up for Cave Aged Marisa. Other local winners: downstate Prairie Fruits Farm took third in soft ripened goat's milk cheeses for their Little Bloom on the Prairie, and Indiana's Capriole took first in flavored goat cheeses for perennial favorite O'Banon. Both are available at the Green City Market.

Many winning cheeses were absent from Sunday's clearance sale at Kendall College, but if you were quick and ruthless you could get some fantastic deals. I scored a four-pound chunk of Avonlea Clothbound Cheddar for ten bucks. I shudder to think of what this red-ribbon-winning hunk of raw milk wonder would have cost at retail.

I want nothing more today than a bucketful of raw cabbage.

The Festival of Cheese, one of just two events in the American Cheese Society's 25th annual conference and cheese competition that’s open to the public, takes place 5:30-9 PM Saturday at the Hilton Chicago (720 S. Michigan). It features tastings of more than 1,000 artisan and specialty cheeses from producers all over North America—among them Capriole from Indiana, Everona Dairy from Virginia, Redwood Hill Farm from California, Beecher’s Handmade Cheese from Washington, and Rogue Creamery from Oregon—plus wine, beer, and specialty foods. $85.

The American Cheese Society’s cheese sale from 10 AM-1 PM Sunday at Kendall College (900 N. North Branch) will have offerings from all the producers at Saturday’s festival at what it promises will be “rock-bottom prices.”

Prefer a little less cheese and a little more beer? Rock Bottom Brewery (1 W. Grand) hosts Curds and Ale II from 2:30-5:30 PM on Sunday, with 20 American artisan cheeses (many purchased at the sale) and 20 American craft beers from breweries including Three Floyds, Two Brothers, and Dogfish Head. The focus will be on pairings of clothbound cheddars (in the tradition of English farmhouse cheddar) with British-inspired bitters and ales and stinky cheeses with wild-fermented Belgian-style beers. $35.

Pastoral Artisan Cheese's Loop location (53 E. Lake) is hosting special events to coincide with the ACS's conference. On Thursday at 3:30 PM San Francisco Chronicle cheese columnist Janet Fletcher, a CIA grad, will be signing copies of her latest book, Cheese and Wine: A Guide to Selecting, Pairing, and Enjoying; cheese and wine selections from the book will be served. On Friday at 3:30 PM sample some cow's and goat's milk cheeses from Ann Arbor's Zingerman's Creamery; Zingerman's cheese maker John Loomis will attend. Both events are free. 

Slow Food Chicago hosts a four-course dinner 6 PM Monday at Uncommon Ground (1401 W. Devon) featuring fruit from Seedling fruit farm in South Haven, Michigan; each course is paired with a wine or spirit. Chilled melon soup with mint creme fraiche, for instance, comes with a shot of melon-infused North Shore vodka, while a terrine of red raspberry, black raspberry, and honey-vanilla bean gelato with peach puree is accompanied by a house-made honey-peach cordial fizz. There’ll also be a tour of the cafe’s rooftop organic garden and jazz by the Ted Sirota Trio. $65.

Evanston's Va Pensiero (1566 Oak Ave.) and the Land Connection host their Summer Abundance Dinner Saturday at 6:30 PM, featuring fresh produce from the organic and sustainable Henry's Farm, in central Illinois. The vegetarian three-course meal features a caramelized onion tart with Tallegio cheese, roasted garlic-hot pepper crostini, and a grilled vegetable napoleon with candied garlic and spicy beet puree; the cost includes wine service and an hors d'oeuvres reception. Henry Brockman, the farm's owner, will be selling produce at the dinner; his sister, Land Connection founder Terra Brockman, will discuss the group's efforts to promote sustainable farming in Illinois. Reservations required; 847-475-7779. $80. 

In Fine Spirits (5420 N. Clark) hosts a second Return of the Green Fairy tasting seminar, its celebration of absinthe's recent legalization, on Tuesday from 7:30-9pm. Sonja Kassebaum of North Shore Distillery will be back to discuss the mystique surrounding absinthe as well as its history and uses. Three types of absinthe--North Shore's Sirene Absinthe Verte, Kübler Swiss Absinthe Superieure, and Saint George Spirits' Absinthe Verte--and absinthe-based cocktails will be paired with tastings. $36. 

About 1,000 international cheese makers hit town this week for the American Cheese Society's annual meeting, where more than 1,200 cheeses will be judged. Wisconsin has always done exceptionally well in this competition, and this year promises to be no different, though Illinois cheese makers like Leslie Cooperband of Prairie Fruits Farm should make a strong showing. Much of the conference is closed to the public, but on Saturday, July 26, Wednesday, July 23, there's a "festival of cheese" offering tastings of the wares--it's $85. Better yet, on Sunday, July 27, after the conference closes,  Kendall College is hosting a cheese sale that's free and open to the public. Many of the cheeses represented at the judging will be on sale, and prices are reportedly quite low (so that vendors don’t have to ship their cheeses all the way back home).

Festival of Cheese, Sat 7/26,  Wed 7/23 5:30-9 PM, Hilton Chicago, 720 S. Michigan, 502-583-3783, cheesesociety.org, $85

Cheese sale, Sun 7/27, 10 AM-1 PM, Kendall College, 900 N. Branch, 502-583-3783