The Cheese Evangelist
Kurt Dammeier '82 is a cheese evangelist. He traces the roots of
his passion and faith to discovering Cougar Gold during his days at
Washington State University. In November, his Beecher's Handmade
Cheese celebrates a year of business at Seattle's Pike Place Market
with the release of its aged Flagship cheese, which is inspired by
Cougar Gold.
Even though it is only seven months old, Dammeier gives me a
slice and waits expectantly as I taste it. And yes, it reminds me
of Cougar Gold. A cheddar style, but with a creamy finish rather
than the normal sharp finish of a cheddar. But it is different. A
little denser. A little creamier. It is fabulous.
Dammeier is pleased by my response, but not surprised. He knows
how good it is.
The butterfat is higher than in Cougar Gold, he explains. The
milk Beecher's uses contains 3.9 percent butterfat. "We'd like to
get to 4.2 percent." Cougar Gold uses milk that contains 3.8
percent butterfat. This translates to about 35 percent butterfat in
the cheese.
The milk that makes Cougar Gold comes from the University's 135
Holstein cows. Beecher's buys its milk exclusively from Cherry
Valley, a small dairy farm outside of Duvall. Their cows are
primarily Jersey and Brown Swiss, lovely breeds that have largely
disappeared from American dairies, because even though they produce
a higher-fat milk, they are not so prolific as the Holsteins. In
order to boost the fat, Beecher's itself bought an additional 40
Jerseys to add to the herd.
When he noticed one morning that Molbak's garden store at Pike
Place was closing, Dammeier suddenly realized what route his cheese
quest would take. His initial foray had reached an apparent dead
end. He recalls consulting with former WSU Creamery manager Marc
Bates '70, '76 and an agricultural economist when he was still
contemplating making a farmstead cheese.
"They thought I was really naïve," says Dammeier. "They tried to
talk me out of it."
What Bates and the economist had not considered was that
Dammeier is, as he calls himself, a marketing guy.
Dammeier's Sugar Mountain Capital owns Pasta & Co. and holds
a major share of Pyramid Breweries.
"The usual problem," he says, "is you know what you want to
make, but don't know how to sell it.
"I knew how to sell it. I didn't know how to make it."
So he hired Brad Sinko as his cheese maker. Sinko had been
creating artisan cheeses for his family's Bandon Cheese Company in
Oregon until Tillamook bought it. Now at Beecher's, Sinko makes the
cheese. Dammeier sells it. They're a great pair.
Beecher's cheese is made on site, the production area enclosed
by glass. "You can always tell when little kids have been here,"
says Sinko, "because there's lip and nose marks everywhere."
Beecher's makes and sells a number of cheeses other than the
forthcoming Flagship and also features a small café, serving
assorted cheese-based dishes, including what Dammeier calls the
world's best macaroni and cheese.
The store also sells cheese by a number of cheese makers
throughout the Northwest. And it's here, when talking about other
people's cheese, that Dammeier's true evangelism shines.
Page
1
2
3
4
Continued
|
