Being a Utah State Aggie graduate, I've been following Pat Ford and Tim Welsh's cheesemaking at their Beehive Cheese Co. for several years.Their plant which opened in 2005 is set in the beautiful Weber Canyon in a valley between the forested Wasatch Mountains. To me, Utah is such a beautiful state and was fortunate to go to college in the city of Logan with many fun memories of school and friends. Pat and Tim were smart to incorporate Utah State, one of the few remaining universities in the country that has a creamery, to help develop the base for their cheddars.
One of their first cheeses and probably the best well known is Barely Buzzed. It's a traditionalcheddar rubbed with expresso (from Legacy Coffee Co in Colorado owned by Tim's brother) and lavender. This cheese has won 1st place at the American Cheese Society for the past 3 years and just last year in Austin, Texas. What intrigues me about this cheese is that the flavor doesn't just quit at the rind but continues all the way through the cheese. The expresso flavor is not overwhelming, and the lavender notes are subtle. Pairs well with beer and what a great name for a cheese!
I truly like their Seahive which is hand rubbed with their Beehive Wildflower honey and local Redmond RealSalt. Their newest cheese called Butter Bound is rubbed with cultured butter and aged for 8 months. I couldn't stop eating the samples that Pat sent last week of this sweet cheese.
The milk is what makes their cheeses so great, and they buy only Jersey milk from WadeLand Dairy near the mineral-rich Great Salt Lake. Its pure and clean and, they have done their homework locating the right dairy. The evening milk is delivered by the dairy the same night the cows are milked, and the cheesemaking process begins within a few hours. They make 8 batches of cheese per week by hand in their creamery which makes it even that more artistinal.
Sqeeky Cheese Curds are becoming a fun way to serve cheese and Beehive is coming out with many different flavors. Cheese curds are fresh cheddar cheese in its natural shape before being processed into blocks or wheels to be aged. Curds have a mild taste with a slightly rubbery texture and should squeak when eaten. In the midwest they deep-fry them. Sounds like a Texas thing to me. You will find them only at specialty shops like Hubbell & Hudson in the Woodlands and Antonellis's in Austin. Its great to see these two guys so full of passion about making cheese the artisan way by hand, as well as carry the flavors of their cheeses from the terroirs of their beloved Utah.
