Since my first days as a young cheese professional and enthusiast, Jasper Hill Farm has been a glimmering source of inspiration, strength, and cheese sense.  Brothers Andy and Mateo Kehler are the resilient workhorses behind the 20 year old operation, and they make a wide variety of cheeses from their herd of Ayrshire cows.  These styles of cheese are informed not only by taste, smell, and touch - they are informed by science and microbiology.  Their in-house cheese lab examines the quality and nature of each batch produced.

As Mateo Kehler has said, "Cheese is not an invention, it is a discovery." Jasper Hill Farms wants to take part in that discovery: sustainable land and animal management practices inform the quality of the milk which in turn makes for award-worthy cheeses in both American and International competitions.

Featured above: Bayley Hazen Blue, 2014 winner of World's Best Unpasteurized Cheese in the World Cheese Championship.

The Cellars at Jasper Hill is another critical department of their business.  The seven underground aging vaults take root in European agricultural frameworks, where a region's cheese makers sell their freshly made wheels and blocks to a local affineur to be aged, stored, and sold. Jasper Hill works directly with some of Vermont's finest cheese makers, such as Scholten Family Farm, von Trap Farmstead, Landaff Creamery, and Cabot Creamery.  This system allows the cheese maker to focus on what they do best: farming and cheese making, and it also allows Jasper Hill Farm to develop a robust affinage and sales department for the variety of styles.  In this light, Jasper Hill is the heartbeat of a growing specialty cheese ecosystem in Vermont.

Featured above: Cabot Clothbound Cheddar, milk sourced from a small herd of cows, winner of Best in Show at the 2006 American Cheese Society Conference. 

Knowing all of this, I am ecstatic to be featuring their cheese selection on my website.