All Over Albany

Washington County Cheese Tour 2014

The annual Washington County Cheese Tour is coming up in less than a month -- it's September 6 and 7 this year. It is pretty much what it sounds like: a self-guided tour to a handful of cheese-making farms in Washington County (and one in Vermont).

It is, by the accounts we've seen, an interesting and (literally) cheesy time. As Tim recapped the tour a few years back:

Crowds from around the area came to taste locally made cheeses and other dairy products right where they're made. Right. Where. They're. Made. I mean the animals whose milk helped to create the delectable products being sampled actually look on while you toothpick your way through lines of delicious, tangy, cheesy goodness. ...

I sampled some of the best, most complex cheese I have tasted in a long time. It's amazing to me how many different flavors artisan cheese makers can pull out of milk. The cheeses ran the gamut from hard, soft, pungent, and mild, raw, pasteurized, aged, and young. One thing united them, though. They were all delicious. And while the cheese event is only once a year, you can get the cheeses year round.

The participating farms will be open September 6 and 7 from 10 am-4 pm. The tour is free.

Cheese tour preview: The Cheese Traveler in Albany is hosting a tour preview at its shop on Delaware Ave this Thursday (August 14) from 5-7 pm. Blurbage: "Come meet the cheesemakers and enjoy cheeses from five Washington County creameries, paired with beer from Rare Form Brewery and accompaniments by The Cheese Traveler." It's $25 per person.

The Cheese Traveler advertises on AOA.

photo: Tim Dawkins