There is something remarkable about arriving at Shelburne Farms. On the shores of Lake Champlain, the 1,400-acre property feels less like a farm you’ve come to visit and more like an entire world unto itself: a working farm, a historic inn, and enormous barns built for ambitions that belonged to another era. It was here, in the farm’s Breeding Barn, that we found ourselves at the culmination of Vermont Cheese Week, surrounded by some of the state’s best cheesemakers and a serious amount of cheese.
The Breeding Barn is a reminder of just how much history is packed into this place. Built between 1889 and 1891 for William Seward Webb’s horse-breeding operation, it was part of the grand agricultural estate Webb and his wife, Lila Vanderbilt Webb, created after assembling 33 farms beginning in 1886. The horse-breeding business didn’t last—the automobile had other plans—but the barn did.
Today, Shelburne Farms is something quite different, though the agricultural spirit remains. In 1972, Webb’s descendants founded a nonprofit centered on education and the belief that learning from the land could help build a more sustainable and just world. The organization eventually took ownership of the property, and today the farm is home to a working dairy and cheesemaking operation, gardens, forests, and extensive education programs.
We stayed at the Inn at Shelburne Farms for two nights, which gave us a chance to fully settle into the property. We looked out over Lake Champlain with evening cocktails, ate dinner in the historic dining room, and played a late-night round of billiards with other guests. It’s easy to see why families come back year after year—and why this particular place feels like such a natural home for a festival celebrating Vermont’s cheesemakers.
The Vermont Cheesemakers Festival was founded by Allison Hooper and Bob Reese of Vermont Creamery as a celebration of Vermont cheesemaking and part of Vermont Creamery’s 20th anniversary. Now in its 13th year, the premise is still wonderfully simple: bring Vermont’s cheesemakers together, eat a lot of cheese, discover something you’ve never tried before, and leave with a cooler that is considerably heavier than when you arrived. Here are a few of the things we’re still thinking about.
Woodlawn Creamery – Rupert Reserve
Rupert Reserve is a new addition to Woodlawn Creamery’s lineup, made possible now that the creamery has been able to hold back wheels long enough to reach the 12-month mark. The wait is worth it: Reserve was complex, savory, and nutty, with the kind of concentrated flavor that only comes with more time in the cellar. It felt like a new chapter for a cheese I already love, and one I’ll be keeping an eye out for.
Wilson Farm – Sisho Ice Cream
Wilson Farm is an herb farm that has recently turned its attention to ice cream, and the result is every bit as interesting as you’d hope. The new line, which includes out-of-the-box flavors like Spruce Tip and Golden Milk, is made with milk from a neighboring farm and botanicals grown on their own farm. The Shiso ice cream was a standout, delicate, herbal, and flexible enough to be used in sweet or savory applications.
Vermont Farmstead Cheese – Fat Tire Alehouse Cheddar
Vermont Farmstead Cheese Co. takes its cheddar to the brewery with its Fat Tire Alehouse Cheddar, made with New Belgium’s Fat Tire Ale. The company describes it as an easygoing, well-balanced combination of two classics, and that’s a pretty good way to put it. Although I wouldn’t classify myself a traditional beer cheese lover, this is a version I can get behind.
Small Oven Pastries – Macs & Cheese
Small Oven Pastries teamed up with 5th Quarter Butcher + Provisions on Macs & Cheese, a collection of macarons inspired by—and incorporating—Vermont cheese. My favorite was Dark Side of the Blue, made with dark chocolate, anise hyssop, and Jasper Hill Farm’s Bayley Hazen Blue—a combination that sounds a little strange on paper but absolutely works. The blue cheese brings a savory, salty edge to the dark chocolate, while the anise hyssop adds a bright herbal note that keeps the whole thing from feeling too rich.
von Trapp Farmstead – Mad River Blue
Tucker Hill Cheese – Milestone
Tucker Hill Cheese is one of Vermont’s newest cheesemakers, and Milestone immediately made me want to pay attention to what they’re doing. Their take on raclette is aged for two to three months, developing a beautiful natural rind and a distinctly lactic character. It’s exactly the kind of cheese I love: velvety, a little funky, with a clean finish.
Shelburne Farm – Smoked Cheddar
Shelburne Farms takes its 6-month raw-milk cheddar and cold-smokes it over hickory for six hours, giving it a subtle sweetness and just enough smoke to complement the cheddar underneath. I had a slice with a glass of Chardonnay on the back porch of the Inn overlooking Lake Champlain, and it was exactly the kind of snack I wanted in that moment. The house-made apple preserves were a pretty perfect match, too.
High Drive Distillery – Gin
High Drive Distillery makes its gin on a family farm in northern Vermont, using organic grains grown and milled right on the property. The 93-proof gin is built around juniper, red clover, dandelion root, and seven other botanicals. You can taste that botanical complexity without it becoming overwhelming. It was incredibly smooth with a bright, layered herbal character.
Big Picture Farm – Goat Milk Caramel Nibbles
Big Picture Farm has built a whole confectionery universe around goat milk, and the Goat Milk Caramel Nibbles are one of its bite-sized expressions of that idea. The Townshend farm is perhaps best known for its goat milk caramels, which also show up in chocolate-covered versions, truffles, and other sweets.
Josie Krogh
Josie Krogh is culture's Digital Strategy Lead. She earned her master's degree in Agricultural and Applied Economics from The University of Georgia. Josie developed a love of food while working at farmstands in the D.C. area as a young adult, and discovered her love of cheese while living and working on a dairy farm on Martha's Vineyard. Josie currently lives in Catskill, NY.
