Cheese Room Sessions is a virtual event series of conversations hosted by Deli cheesemonger Sean Hartwig, with special guest cheese makers and professionals who will talk about their delicious creations and ramble about life in the dairy business. In this month’s session, Sean will be joined by Andy Hatch, owner and head cheesemaker at Uplands Cheese, a grassland dairy located in the driftless region of southwestern Wisconsin and maker of the signature Pleasant Ridge Reserve cheese.
In this virtual tasting event, you will learn a bit more about the dairy and cheesemaking and also HELP US MAKE OUR SELECTION of Pleasant Ridge Reserve from last year’s wheels! Andy and Sean will guide you through 6 different batches of cheese and you’ll provide us with some valuable feedback that will help us choose which batch we want to buy and sell over for the next year.
We have a very special relationship with this cheesemaker, and this annual spring event with Andy to select the wheels that will represent Zingerman’s Pleasant Ridge profile is something we look forward to each year. We started years ago and made a big leap in our cheese buying to acquire one whole day’s worth of Uplands production–about 50 wheels. We are currently able to buy almost 250 wheels, or roughly four day’s worth of Upland efforts.
This cheese has won more awards than any other cheese in American history! It is made in the tradition of Alpine cheeses like Gruyere, and like other European Alpage cheeses, Uplands only makes Pleasant Ridge from May through October, when their cows are eating fresh pasture. We hope you will join us and take part in this our annual tradition.
