The Dynamic Duo: An Interview with Weirauch Creamery

The Weirauchs are a new creamery on the California block, relatively speaking, but they are one of the most treasured. Joel and Carleen Weirauch are some of the happiest people in the industry, and the smiles on their faces are catching. It's no wonder. If I made sheep's milk cheese like their Saint Rose, which tastes like a harmonic dairy convergence between Berkswell and a mountainous Basque tomme, I'd be beaming too. And their cow's milk cheeses that they craft when their milking ewes are resting for the season? Just as beam-worthy. I'm very happy to share an interview in my  The Daily Rind series on "It's Not You, It's Brie." Thank you, Joel Weirauch for your time (and thanks, Jesse for your series name suggestion)!

You and your wife are very personable, happy people. I always hear cheesemongers talk about how much of a pleasure it is to work with you, and at a recent cheese festival, my father spent half an hour talking to you alone (granted, he does like to talk, and you had samples to feed him, but that’s still a long time). After such long days working on the farm, making cheese, and cleaning –as we’ve learned from Bohemian Creamery’s Lisa Gottriech (from previous post) is sometimes even the biggest part of a cheesemaker’s day, what keeps the smiles on your faces?

Yes, our days are long and there are many times when I am ready to eat and relax but I have to head back up the hill to finish the evening chores - feeding and watering the sheep.  Almost everytime during feeding, once the sheep have been fed and the commotion around the feeders slows down, one of the ewes will demand a little extra attention.  It is in these moments, where I am forced to slow down, that I find some contentment.

What does an average day look like for you two at Weirauch Creamery? 

Our work schedules change with the seasons.  Late winter brings the lambs and all the attention to caring for moms and newbies.  We then move into the milking time, where twice a day the sheep are milked and the cheesemaking days ramp up.  Right now we are breeding the sheep, it is a slower time of the year, however there still plenty of work in the cheese aging room, cheese sales and farm markets.  There is never a day off, but this time of year we can have dinner with friends.  There are constant interruptions that we never plan on but have to deal with.  We have lost power to the creamery during cheesemaking, we had a cooling unit go down during milking, we had a large shade canopy (caught up in a wind storm) rip through the electric fencing and crumple in a heap the other night .  There are so many examples that I'd almost say we don't really have average days.

Families traditionally work together at creameries, but things are changing and it’s not always the case that all members of a family or couple want to be involved in such a business. What lead to the decision for you and your wife to work together, and did the division of labor come about naturally?

Carleen and I chose to work together as a way of life.  We want to have a shared lifestyle where our work and life are intertwined.  The realities of farming don't always allow for this.   Carleen holds a part time job off the farm, while working full time on the farm.  I am full time farm worker and cheesemaker.   We share the duties as much as possible, but often times the duties fall to the person not engaged in some task or another.

Why did you decide on sheep rather than cows or goats (or buffalos), and what was the most surprising things you learned from raising them, and making cheese with their milk?

Sheep milk is amazing, it wants to make cheese on its own.  The curd sets up firm and the yields are high.  I became interested in sheep milk cheeses after traveling through Europe and realizing that the US has very few sheep dairies.  The sheep dairy industry in the US is relatively young. I  feel connected to the other sheep milk producers and I enjoy the collaboration and sharing of knowledge between the producers.

If you had all the space, time, labor, and money available to you, what cheese(s) or cheese styles would you try making? Would you make them in California?

What I really want is a cave to age cheeses in, maybe two or three caves.  Real caves with natural cooling and humidity.   I would like to see what a cave would do to a gooey semi-soft wheel.

What’s your favorite pairings for your fresh cheeses?

Our fresh sheep cheese, Primo Fresco, pairs well with both sweet and savory.  I love it in salads and it makes an amazing cheesecake (albeit expensive).

Bohemian Creamery- An Interview with Lisa Gottreich

This interview with Bohemian Creamery kicks off a series that I'm very excited about here on It's Not You, It's Brie. Called, (well.... I'm a little behind on this part, recs are welcome!...) the series will follow and detail the lives of those involved in the varied and vast cheese world. I'll interview cheesemakers, cheesemongers, educators, distributers, importers, writers, and more, to give behind the scenes look at those that make, house, peddle, and love our cheese and make our fermented world happen. It will share insights to how our cheese comes to be, gets from the farm to our table, and maybe even provide food for thought for those thinking about entering the cheese world themselves. I'm going to focus entirely on those making or working with American cheese for the month of October because... it's American Cheese Month, after all.

Lisa Gottreich is my first interviewee. The cheesemaker for Bohemian Creamery , Lisa is located in Sebastopol, California, land of grapes, apples, and.. an incredibly inventive cheesemaker. You can also read about her Capronico in my book. I think you'll enjoy reading Lisa's thorough and thoughtful answers. Photos were supplied by Gottreich.

Your resume includes cheesemaker, Italian instructor, and writer. How do these passions play into each other and inspire your main career as cheesemaker?

I am basically unemployable after years of working on my own terms. My last pay-check job really ushered in the creation of the creamery. I worked for a large multi-county oncology practice. It was a disaster on my psyche. Sad to see the death and dying, which I expected to be profoundly touched by, but found myself instead embattled every day by the ins and outs of group dynamics, politics, and the dueling wastefulness and dearth of heath care policy. And so the writer-goat-herder (I had goats and made cheese at home for many years before I ventured into commercial production) kind of hung up the towel. Helped along by a mid-life crisis husband who was backing out on our 18 year marriage. The thread here is really just a question of disposition. I am idealistic and head strong (ok, stubborn), and so the rushing waters run a course more solitary and self-determined.

Bohemian Creamery makes cheese with all the milks under the California sun- goat, cow, sheep, and buffalo. From whom do you source all these milks, what inspired such a broad milk range, and do foresee keeping your own animals for milk in the future (or do you now?)?

I absolutely love goats and have had them around for almost the past two decades. In fact, cheese-making is probably my rationalization for having goats. That being said, I also buy my milk. To run a dairy that would produce the amount of milk I consume would be a full time occupation in itself. Yet I am at an awkward size ---too large to produce enough with my own herd and too small to be able to take advantage of any economy of scale. I will always have my goat herd, and I will continue to source my milks from the wonderful dairies of Sonoma County.

To give people an idea of what happens at Bohemian Creamery, describe a typical work day for you. 

I've been jumping on my bike lately and biking with my dog up to the creamery, enjoying the cooler autumn air and feeling sick of needlessly regurgitating spent fuel. SO that happens around 6:00 am. I get up the creamery, look out over the santa rosa laguna and Mt St Helena and sigh. Push troubles to the side, temporarily. GO into the creamery, listen to NPR and start my day which consists of either jumping into the milk truck to pick up milk, turn on NPR until the news swings back then turn on Pandora, make cheese, do affinage, pack and wrap orders, clean. Clean and clean. I don't think people realize how little time cheese makers spend actually making cheese compared to their gargantuan lifetime of cleaning. Then the afternoon I dedicate to the goats, feeding, hoof trimming, mandatory petting.

What would you say is the most exciting cheese that you make, for you? For some, it might be your fresh goat, bloomy-rinded Bodacious cheese- one of my favorite quotes of yours from the LA Times article I wrote that featured Bodacious was- “it’s modeled after a boob, though it’s not always the most thrilling boob, the mold is food grade, stainless steel.” For others it might be your Bo-Peep, a sheep-goat blend washed with Russian River’s Consecration beer. But I know you have a new one you’re working on too. What’s the first cheese you know you’ll be looking forward to making or tending most after coming back from your upcoming two-week writer’s retreat?

I really like working with the water buffalo milk. It's so different from anything I've ever touched. It's hard to separate the animal from the product and those bufale are really like nothing I've ever faced down before...I have roped and cut cattle, herded goats, kept sheep. But these girls, they are like staring into the eye of a whale...they penetrate you. I lived for years in Italy and for me it is very very special to be able to have this milk. That being said, I am working on a crazy idea for a cheese...sort of a secret of this point, but I like inventing. Like my cowabunga, a fresh lactic cow cheese I make then stuff with cajeta I make from my goat's milk. So when I get back from my residency, I am going to set to work on the newest crazy combo...

Who and what is inspiring you at the moment?

I am inspired by the people I get to work with. I have two wonderful women who work with me and I really respect and cherish their input. We are working together to build out the creamery into an agrotourism destination where people can sit back and dive into the incredible view, eat cheese, bread cheese plates, make a cheese pizza, hang with the goats, see cheese being made, maybe also drink a little wine. I think that the more people taste and understand cheese as a living entity that, like us, is born, throws its colors, then fades, concepts of consistency will gain a more holistic context.

Thank you so much for your time, Lisa!

Any ideas for the name of the series welcome in the comments section!

Redwood Hill Visit- Mother's Day and Goat Kisses

If because of the lack of new words on this blog, anyone was worried that I decided to stay in Jura, France to take the 140,000 or so eighty-pound Comté cheeses hostage at the Fort Sainte Antoine caves, never fear, I am not in trouble with the French government. I considered staying in the Jura, or Alsace, where I could eat pounds and pounds of Alpine style cheese or Morbier for the rest of my life, but alas, I came back to Oakland. I mean..... I can buy kale here. Which is... yah, it was a tough decision.

Anyhow, I have landed. I'm back! Busy making up for the time I missed while traveling- writing, writing pitches (I love this blog, but a girl's gotta pay for her cheese somehow), and attempting to be a good maid-of-honor to my best friend who's getting married in five days (by the way, did every girl but me know how hard it is to find a pair of black strappy sandals that are under five inches high these days? Oh, bridesmaid dress. I'm hoping I don't need to grow up and learn how to walk in high heels.).

Now that the cheese whee is rolling again, I wanted to share pics with you of a creamery visit.

If any readers are Bay Area folks who grew up driving the windy backroads of Sonoma, you're likely familiar with Redwood Hill. Of course, if you're a cheese lover, you are probably also just as familiar with this spot. They make good dairy. Owned by the Bice family, this company is as in love with their goats, if not more, as they are with cheese. 4-H-ers unite! These photos are from this mother's day at Redwood Hill. The creamery always opens its gates to farm visits on this day, and it always rocks. A cool celebration right?

My parents, funnily enough though, forgot that the day they were planning to visit Redwood Hill was Mother's Day. They instead told me what they were doing that weekend, I reminded them of the importance of that particular Sunday, then I asked to be invited along. Luckily, they let me join.

Ridge Montebello Release Party(ies): Cheese & Wine Done Right.

Situated in the Santa Cruz Mountains on the top of a steep hill rife with hairpin turns and crazy bicyclists who gravitate towards the middle of the slim and often one-way road, Ridge is one of the best, and most scenic, wineries in the United States. They rock a Bordeaux varietal like no one's business. Oh, and Zin. And Chardonnay. Officially in un-incooporated Cupertino, but for appellation sake, in woodsy Santa Cruz, Ridge was one of the famed wineries that shocked the world at the Judgement of Paris blind tasting when the world learned that California really knew what it was doing with those Bordeaux grapes.

Ridge continues to be a force today. They more wine these days, and stay true to their practice of making many small single vineyard and small blends bottling of amazing quality. Plus, worth mentioning because its a little rarer than one might think, Ridge also treats the people who work for them very well- from the people who seasonally pick the grapes to the people that sell loads of their wine.

This year I was asked to join Ridge for its Montebello release tastings this year to curate the cheese and talk to people about the offering. These folks know how to put on a party. I loved it. The team there is fantastic, from the resident chefs, the winemaker Eric Baugher, to the hospitality manager Amy Monroe and greeter-charmer-wine blogger Christopher Watkins. Plus, I got to eat a lot of Fatted Calf Charcuterie and Gayle's bread every day I was there.

Did I mention the wine? I did that do. Drank it. A fair amount of it.

A cool part about being at the Montebello release and barrel sampling events is that.... you get to taste the Montebello releases and barrel samples. Yup. And they are worth braving bicyclists in tight pants who breathe like pugs while zig-zaging in the road in front of you. I tasted through 2000, 2008, and 2013 Montebellos, one the prettiest and most vivacious Merlots I've sampled in a while, aged Zins like only Ridge can do them, and a lovely Santa Cruz Estate Chardonany. And also salt and vinegar potato chips with Gruet sparkling wine from New Mexico.

Upon entering the tasting barn, guests are greeted with a pour of a Chardonnay, then lead through tasting two wines inside, then an aged, and a current Montebello blend. After tasting the Montebello, guests head downstairs and work their way through six or seven aged Zins. The event lasted from 11-5pm and many people picnicked outside, minding the "watch out for  rattlesnakes" sign.

The cheese I selected was California, Ridge style. We ordered some direct, and some from wholesalers. I mainly picked hearty, layered aged cheeses to highlight the wines, then threw in a few delicious treats that were just damned tasty. I picked ones I adored and ended up by chance mainly in Northern California. Just a few of the ones served were Achadinha's Broncha, Bohemian Creamery's Cowbunga, PennyRoyal's Boont Corners, Garden Variety Hollyhock, and Vella's Mezzo Secco. I told folks about the delicious, had a newsletter for signups, and signed a book or two.

I was honored to be asked, taste the new releases -2013: a good Montebello thing-, and was so happy to work with the wonderful people there. The attendees were pretty awesome too. As was the Fatted Calf mortadella. (And In case you missed it, here's one of the most interviews I've done, on Ridge's blog).

Have you had a chance to taste Ridge with your local cheeses? Any memorable picks? 

Classes Galore & California Cheese Fest

Well, readers, it's been a heck of a last two weeks, and right now, I'm all about spreading all the [cheese] love possible. About two weeks ago my house was burglarized, and a fair amount was stolen- computer, camera, sentimental jewelry, etc. And some Moroccan hair oil and a pillow case (so if you see someone with luscious, sweet-smelling hair that looks like they had a good night sleep, call the Oakland PD). But alas, I have renters insurance, and although my claim involved a wealth of paperwork, having that insurance has been a godsend. A case of odd timing- the day after the burglary I was supposed to get my book manuscript back and had 3 weeks to edit it. Computer-less, I was in a little bit of a bind. But my lovely editor (bless her) held off for a few days until I got a replacement computer. So now I'm busting my booty editing to meet the new deadline for that and other things. Good news- the book draft is looking pretty good, for a draft! And, the other things that are keeping me busy are work related, and are fabulous. There are just a lot of them. And, hey, I'm healthy, and I ate an awesome plate of carnitas last night while sipping mezcal.

Alas, it's been a very full couple of weeks. So in the middle of this fury, I'm very happy to announce today two things.

1  I'm teaching a ton of classes this spring (some listed below, more on way).

2- The California Artisan Cheese Festival is back. Yay local dairy and cheese education!

I'm very happy to be teaching these classes, and I'll  have more to announce shortly. Plus, the Southern Cheese one will be a rare class- you don't hear about this region's cheese often, there's amazing stuff to be tasted, and there's moonshine to drink. Exciting points all over.  Second, I'm happy about the the California Cheese fest in Sonoma because it is a fabulous way to meet small-production cheesemakers, indulge in vast amounts of dairy, and take some classes. If I were free that weekend, I'd go. I highly suggest it. There will even be a cheesemaker there from Utah who milks Icelandic sheep.

CLASSES GALORE (more to come)

Southern Cheeses & Spirits, Mar. 25, Sunday: The Cheese School of San Francisco

Let’s name the great cheesemaking regions of the US: California,Wisconsin, Vermont,... Georgia? The South is indeed rising again. Creameries like Georgia’s Sweet Grass Dairy, Texas’ Mozzarella Company, and Alabama’s Stone Hollow are turning out great cheese and getting national attention for it. Cheese blogger and wine maven Kirstin Jackson will lead and pair her selections with her favorite Southern spirits.

Spring Sparklers, April 16th, Monday: The Cheese School of San Francisco

It’s springtime, the birds are chirping and the blossoms, blooming! Love is in the air. What better way to celebrate than with some milky nibbles, light sparkling wines, and hopefully, someone charming and attractive with whom to share in the bounty. This class is a fresh and lively guided tour through some of the best cheeses and bubbly wines spring has to offer. Charming and attractive date not included.

Summer Cheese & Wine, June 20th, Wednesday: The Cheese School of San Francisco

In summer, foodie daydreams linger on sunshine, fabulous cheese, and thirst-quenching wines. ‘It’s Not You, It’s Brie,’ blogger and oenophile Kirstin Jackson will lead you in a fantasy tasting of summer’s best. Think fresh and just ripe cheeses and light, fun wines. You’ll find some pairings to inspire your summer gatherings.

CHEESE FESTIVAL

The California Artisan Cheese Festival

March 23rd- 25th

March 23rd- all the Friday Farm tours are sold out. Sign up quick for the Laguintas beer & cheese dinner.

The rest of the goods.

Achadinha's Capricious- A Photo Tour

Let's start off with some straight talk- goat cheese haters can be found anywhere. Except for the slightly less satisfied look on their face that comes from consuming the shorter amino acid chains that are in goat cheese, they look like you and I. They walk like you and I. They even sound like you and I.

Yet they deny the goat its true dairy glory. Some say no to goat cheese all together. Some say no to certain styles, like fresh chevre, gouda, or very aged versions. But, dear readers, there is hope. All it takes is one goat cheese to open the door.

There are entire realms to be explored. And just maybe, maybe, if you're unsure what style of goat cheese you might like, Achadinha's Capricious is your door.

Today's post focuses on Capricious made by Achadinha Creamery. It is aged, crumbly, hard, peppery, herbal, and, a little fierce. Imagine a ripped, tattooed Parmesan in a boxing ring. Capricious takes no prisoners, and it makes no apologies. It's a goat cheese, and it's damn proud. And you, my cheesy friend (hater or not) should try it. It's a goat cheese that some chevre-haters love and a cheese that makes goats proud.

Below is a photo tour of a visit to Achadinha. My amazing photographer friend Molly DeCoudreaux took all these photos (she rocks). Achadinha is a family company run by the third generation dairy family, the Pachecos, in Sonoma.

Available in farmer's markets all over the California Bay Area, via Cowgirl Creamery shipping, and possibly at a cheese store near you. Have you tried Capricious? What did you think?

La Clarine Sierra Mountain Tomme

La Clarine winery, farm, and cheese company first wins you over with its sweet husband and wife, small-production, all-natural approach story. Then, after a taste of their Sierra Mountain Tomme, the glory of the cheese itself hits and you consider calling to see if they need an intern.

Earthy, tangy and vibrant, La Clarine’s Tomme speaks to the virtues of biodynamics, living in the mountains, and raw-milk. A semi-hard cheese with a grey mold-dusted exterior, this goat's milk number exhibits a complexity that is entirely its own. Slightly salty and blessed with flavors of fruity green olives, grass, herbs and pepper, this cheese flips on its head the idea that goat cheese is sour, funky, and tastes like it came from a barnyard.

Instead, La Clarine's Tomme tastes like it came from a goat's heaven, full of fuzzy kids prancing about day and mother's grazing on whatever their little herbal and thistle-inspired hearts desire. Except tin cans.

Side Nibbles

Pair with something nutty and slightly sweet, like the Spanish fig cake pictured above, Medjool dates, or crispy apples. Alternatively, grate over a bowl of pasta cooked al-dente, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil, and sprinkled with salt and lots of freshly ground pepper.

Wine

Try a slice of La Clarine with a bright, light, and high-acidity red wine that will highlight the fresh, grassy flavors in the cheese, like Edmunds St. John Bone-Jolly Gamay or the Domaine de Collette Regnie Beaujoulais.