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From Alpinezone News

HUNTER, New York — Hunter Mountain’s annual Microbrew & Wine Festival will kick off on September 22 & 23, featuring microbrews and wines of the Hudson Valley, New York State and beyond. The festival starts each day at noon and ends at 5pm, taking place in the base lodge at Hunter Mountain Resort. Breweries scheduled to attend include Butternuts, Brooklyn Brewery, Redhook Ale, Ithaca, Albany Pump Station, Lake Placid, Saranac, Keegan, Gilded Otter and more. Wineries include Poplar Ridge, Americana, Cascade Mountain, Red Barn, Ashley Lynn, Warwick Valley, Long Island Meadery, Baldwin Vineyards, Thousand Island Winery and many others.Tasters will be able to vote for the best beer, best brewery and best winery, which will be announced towards the end of the festival on Sunday. The Christine Spero Group will be performing from 1-4pm on Saturday.igourmet will be there! Both sampling and selling these fine cheeses:Cranberry Chevre

White Stilton with Mango

Beemster Classic

Keen’s Cheddar

Dorothea

Idiazabal

Smoked Cheddar with BBQ and Chili

Regina Blue

Majorero

There are several Wine and Food events this weekend all across the country. I will be attending the Saratoga Springs Wine & Food Festival in New York on September 8th to participate in the Grand Tasting where one can sample over 200 vintages from around the world, nibble on savory morsels from well-known area restaurants, and enjoy presentations from some of the world’s leading wine and food experts. igourmet.com will be sampling cheeses at the event. I will be taking these cheeses to the show:

Boschetto al Tartufo Bianchetto

Extra Aged Farm Gouda

Grana Padano Stravecchio Oro del Tempo

Campobello

RocheBaron Cremy Blue

Crowly Cheese Sharp

We will also be attending these other events this week:

If you are able to attend any of the the shows please stop by and visit us!

Come see and sample the World’s Largest Fondue at downtown Fond du Lac’s free family festival, celebrating culture and community!

CULINARY CLIPS: FONDUE’S THE THING IN FOND DU LAC

Mary Bergin  —  8/31/2007  The Capital Times

Fondue in Fond du Lac? There will be plenty of it on Sept. 8, when the community tries to set a world record during its annual fall festival.

Monroe’s Roth Kase is providing more than 1,000 pounds of cheese for the four-beer, four-cheese fondue recipe, but event organizers aren’t getting more specific than that.

The recipe is being copyrighted, says Lesley Manowske, interim director of the Downtown Fond du Lac Partnership, host of the event. She has tasted a small-batch version of the fondue and teases that it’s great.

Why fondue? Manowske’s response is a bit of silence. “It’s a play on words” between city and food, she explains, sounding slightly irritated, “and we have a large cheese and dairy industry in this area.”

It’s also an attempt to attract state and national attention to the Lake Winnebago city of 42,000 residents.

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The 6th Annual Miami International Wine Fair presented by INFINITIand benefiting the American Red Cross will open its doors at the Miami Beach Convention Center to thousands of wine trade professionals and avid wine aficionados during the second weekend of September 2007. Returning to a three-day format to better serve the interests of Florida’s growing wine industry (Florida is the 2nd largest market in the country with $1.8 Billion in sales), the Fair’s Grand Tasting will welcome the General Public on Saturday and Sunday evening, while business-to-business meetings will be held on Saturday, Sunday and Monday afternoon.

The more than 5,000 attendees expected will be able to taste nearly 1,000 wines from 15 countries paired with culinary delights served by some of South Florida’s finest restaurants. This year’s program will also include a larger and more spectacular VIP section (also known as the Collectors’ Club), a comprehensive seminar program, including guided tastings for beginners and connoisseurs alike, and South Florida’s 2nd Annual Wine & Food Pairing Competition, a one-of-a-kind culinary challenge that will bring together the region’s leading chef & sommelier teams.

One of the largest wine exhibits in America, the Miami International Wine Fair has become the leading commercial platform for boutique wineries from around the world with limited-production wines available only in a handful of fine restaurants and specialized retail shops.

Buy Tickets Now

Miami Intl. Wine Fair
1680 Michigan
Ave. Suite 700
Miami Beach, FL 33139
Phone: 1-305-777-2255
Toll Free: 1-866-887-WINE
Fax: 1-866-229-3031

From www.miamiwinefair.com

AMERICAN CHEESE SOCIETY ANNUAL CONFERENCE
As an avid cheesehead I was thrilled that the ACS were returning to my home state of Vermont for their conference this year. My wife and I eagerly anticipated the event, which was packed full of seminars, tastings and of course the oppurtunity to meet with some of America’s best cheesemakers. We were not to be disappointed………
WEDNESDAY AUGUST 1ST
We had a wonderful evening of cheese and food at the delightful Essex Inn, courtesy of the Great Cheeses of New England. Here we mingled with the great cheesemakers from Cabot, Grafton and Cato Corner, and sampled delicious appetizers made with their finest cheeses. A French Onion Soup was finished with Grafton maple Smoked Cheddar, whilst one of Vermonts other specialties, smoked bacon, nestled atop a fondue of the powerful Hooligan cheese. Thankfully Harpoon Brewery were at hand to offer a selection of their finest hand-crafted beers to wash it down with.
Then came the main event: a four course extravagnza, each highlighting the undeniable quality of New England cheeses. The dishes had been prepared by the students of the New England Culinary Institute, and were first class! Our first dish was Peppercorn-Crusted Pan Seared Scallops, served over a Great Hill Blue Cheese, Brandy and Pancetta studded Fondue with Frizzled Spring Leek.
The second course arrived as the room was still raving about the starter. Fire Grilled Beef Tenderloin, served with a Cabot Vintage Reserve Cheddar & Wild Mushroom Risotto. The plate was finished with my favorite, white truffle oil.
After that heavy-hitter we were treated to a refreshing salad of Boston Bibb and Asian Pear Carpaccio. This was topped with Smith’s Farmstead Aged Gouda and a drizzle of 25 year old balsamic Vinegar. This lovely course really cleansed our palette just in time for my wife’s favorite course - dessert!
Vermont Butter and Cheese produce consistently high quality products, and their mascarpone was the focus of our final dish. Served with a Key Lime Pie martini, the mascarpone was a perfect pairing, and was a great finish to a wonderful meal.

THURSDAY AUGUST 2ND
The day began with a lovely stroll around charming Burlington. Despite the unusually high temperatures, we really enjoyed our urban hike, and knew that we had to build up an appetite for the deluge of cheese to come. Our first seminar focused on the future and success of American Artisanal Cheeses, and featured a variety of speakers. Whilst my wife and I first discovered the joy of farmstead cheeses during extensive visits to Europe, we do everything we can to support our great cheesemakers here in the US, and were thrilled to hear that this years competition had over 1,200 entries! The only stumbling block I see to American artisanal cheese continuing to grow is the ease of access, although now there are some great websites offering many of the cheeses we tasted here at the show. Great for those of us that don’t live in New York City!
After Lunch we were lucky enough to have the books we’d purchased signed by our favorite cheese authority, Laura Werlin. Her knowledge, passion and enthuiasm are unrivalled, and it was a real pleasure meeting her. We skipped the afternoon seminars, as they were mostly scientific, and instead headed over to the stunning Shelburne Farms a little early ahead of the evening reception. If you are ever in this are you simply must go visit. This is a truly spectacular farm in the most beautiful of settings.(Their cheese is pretty spectacular too!) Here is their website: http://www.shelburnefarms.org
The reception was held in the gigantic breeding barn, and their were over 50 Vermont cheesemakers on hand sampling their carefully created delights. I feel bad about missing anyone out, but the standouts for us at least were Neighbourly Farms organic cheeses, Tarentaise, Great Hill Blue, Orb Weaver Farm, Cambridge Reserve by West River Creamery, Blythedale Camembert, Jasper Hill Dairy, Smith’s Gouda, Bridgid’s Abbey, and of course Shelburne Farm Aged Cheddar.

It was a great evening with live music, drinks a plenty, and Vermonts finest!

More to follow………

- Paul

Today is The American Cheese Society’s 2007 23rd Annual Judging and Competition

Considered one of the world’s most influential and prestigious competitions in recognizing the art of artisanal and specialty cheesemaking, the American Cheese Society’s annual judging competition is held in conjunction with the American Cheese Society’s 24th Annual Conference.

In order to qualify for the competition, cheesemakers and their products must meet the following basic criteria:

• Entering companies must hold current membership and be “in good standing” with the ACS.
• Cheeses entered into the competition must have been available for sale to the general public at least 12 months prior to the competition.
• Cheeses entered into the competition must be characteristic of the accepted guidelines for the category in which the cheeses are entered.

Entries are judged by teams of technical and aesthetic judges, with each team scoring the individual entry based on a cumulative point system.  In order to be eligible for a First, Second, or Third place ribbon, scores must meet a minimum number of points for each level.  If no entries meet the minimum score for a placement level, such as first or second place, then an award is not given for that level.

 One of our fellow editors will be attending the conference today and will fill us in on the details when he returns next week.

Join The ACS

Associate Membership  $90.00

The Associate Membership is designed primarily for the cheese enthusiast, for those who want to gain and/or increase their knowledge about the world of specialty cheeses and cheesemaking.  This level of membership is not available to those within the specialty cheese trade.
 
ACS Membership