Shelburne Farms is excited to announce that our 6-month cheddar received first place in the “Cheddar - Aged Up to 12 Months - Made from Cow’s Milk,” category at this year’s American Cheese Society (ACS) Judging & Competition. Our cheddar was selected as a winner for excellence among nearly 2,000 products from 259 different companies. It was one of 13 Vermont cheesemakers to win medals at this year’s conference.

These awards are really “The Oscars of Cheese,” so we are thrilled. The honor celebrates the work that our Cheese team does every day to make the best cheddar we can. But we cannot do it without the equally hard work of the Dairy team. Their efforts give us this amazing, high quality, raw milk from our purebred Brown Swiss cows that we transform into cheddar in our Farm Barn. (The dairy is also Certified Humane and the cheese is Non-GMO Verified.)

Mild cheddar can be tough to evaluate, so we’re very happy that the judges saw the quality of our product over some pretty stiff competition. The award is also welcome because many of our current cheesemakers were responsible for producing and caring for the winning batch! 

The ACS Judging & Competition is the largest competition of its kind. Each year, it takes place in conjunction with the ACS Annual Conference  – held this year in Pittsburgh, PA , where cheesemakers, cheesemongers, distributors, and enthusiasts join together to celebrate the craft of making quality cheese. We love being a part of this community, and we love the chance to spend time with fellow “curd nerds.” 

We'll be celebrating and sharing all of our award-winning cheeses alongside many other Vermont winners at the Vermont Cheesemakers' Festival on Sunday, August 12. If you are on the Farm, please feel free to express your congratulations to members of the Cheese and Dairy Teams!